Laclau with Freud, or the Path Towards Psychoanalysis as General Ontology

Abstract

Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault, and Derrida had all served as precedents of Laclau´s work. However, although Laclau liked to say that he was neither a "Freudian" nor a "Lacanian", but a "Laclausian", the key to his theoretical development lies in its psychoanalytic dimension. In this paper we therefore propose to address the centrality of psychoanalysis in the work of Laclau, from the notion of the subject that is internal to Freud´s developments. We know that throughout his work, from 1895-1939, Freud never explicitly addressed the question of the subject. If anything, he did so in a colloquial manner. However, an interpretation can be developed of what the notion of the subject entails in its relation to the development of his psychoanalytic theory. With respect to Laclau´s work, we consider that there are essentially three key Freudian texts at stake: On Narcissism: An Introduction, The Dream Work, and Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. At times addressed directly by Laclau, and at times more surreptitiously, these texts show us Freud´s fundamental assumptions regarding the concept of identity, which are essential when considering Laclau´s way of thinking about politics. Here we will present a "Laclausian" reading of the three Freudian texts in question. Our interpretation is that they plot a course around the notion of the subject, which Laclau then carries to a radical proposition: locating psychoanalysis in the place where philosophy had traditionally placed ontology, that is, to propose psychoanalysis as a general ontology.