Greek Models for Postmodern Times: Foucault and Lacan on Ethics and the Arts of Existence

Author(s): Alain J.-J. Cohen

Source: Dalhousie French Studies, Vol. 54, Dominique Desanti: Un Hommage (Spring 2001), pp. 105
-113
Published by: Dalhousie University
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Greek Models forPostmodernTimes:

Foucault and Lacan on Ethicsand theArtsof Existence
Alain J.-J.Cohen
A s Freuddid to dipus, manyFrenchthinkersof the nineteenthand twentieth
have gravitated
to theGreekswheneverthey
/ I centuries(modernsor postmoderns)
foundthemselvesethicallyconflicted,in the interestof reflectingupon fundamental
questions regardingmorality,ethics and the "sovereign good." Did the Greeks
exhaustthese questions?For Plato, to kalon kat'agathon led to the Truth.Plato's
dramaticinterweaveof the problematicsreferring
to the True, the Good and the
Beautifulhave resonatedthroughout
the historyof philosophy and have challenged
all subsequentthinkersto constructparallel systems-or unifiedfield theoriesof
philosophy.
Kantcame theclosestto answeringPlato's challenge
DuringtheEnlightenment,
in a new interweave
thataddressedthese same questions.The FirstCritiqueaddresses
Truththrough
PureReason. His Second Critiqueaddressesthe Good throughPractical
In
Reason,whilequestionsabout^Estheticsare thefocusof the Critiqueof Judgment.
thetwilightof the IndustrialAge (or is it the dawnof the modern/postmodern
age?)
thinkersappearedto agonize about ethics, perhaps aided by Nietzsche's profound
deconstructionof morals and ethics. Has the PostmodernAge, instead, given up
altogetherupon questionsof Ethics, the Good and the Artsof Existence? Or, if, as
Lyotardassertsin La conditionpostmoderne,the "great accounts" (Christ, Marx,
and delegitimized,is it not well worth
Freud,et al.) have now been deconstructed
wonderingabout the new problematizationsof ethics that hold currencyin our
postmodernparadigms?
Sartre and the Metaphysics of the Ethical Double Bind
Sartrecan be situatedat thethreshold
of themodernand postmodern
age. His research
on theautonomousethicalsubjectis rivetingin theattention
thathe focuses on hardedgedchoices, those hauntedby a double bind- damnedif you do, damnedif you
don't. The end of Being and Nothingness is unforgettable,as Sartreannounces
anotheropus:
La libert en se prenantelle-mme pour fin, chapperat-elle toute
situation ? Ou, au contraire,demeurera-t-elle
situe? Ou se situera-t-elle
d'autantplus prcisment
et individuellement
qu'elle se projetteradavantage
dans l'angoisse comme libert en condition et qu'elle revendiquera
davantagesa responsabilit, titred'existantpar qui le monde vient
l'tre? (1943a:732)
The above thrust
makes it apparentthat,untilthe veryend of Sartre'sresearch,
questionsof ontologywere hierarchically
privileged,while questionsof ethics were,
instead,derivativefromhis ontological concernsand thusapparentlypostponable,
in Sartre'ssystem.Sartreleaves it unstated,buthe does thinkthatan ethics could be
logically deduced(just as withSpinoza) froman existentialontology. This silence
may seem strange,given thatExistentialismas a philosophy dwells so muchupon
theinterweaveof "being"and "doing."In theheydayof Existentialism,
"I am the sum
of my choices" became an intellectualand psychological paradigm,along with the
notionof Sartrean"bad faith,"or the paradoxicaltaste forthe cas-limiteexacerbated
values.
by dreadvis--visfreedomin a worlddevoidof transcendental
Dalhousie French Studies 54 (2001)

- 105-

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Alain J.-J.Cohen

106

Oreste Pucciani was wont to suggest that Beauvoir's Pour une morale de
l'ambigut mightwell have providedan inchoative answerto Sartre'sexplicitly
statedpromiseof an ethicsat the veryend of Beingand Nothingness.Sartre'snotes
in theposthumousCahiers pour une morale makeeven moremanifesthis intention
to complementan examinationof an Existentialistphenomenologywith a treatise
on Existentialistethics. Actually,Sartre'selaborationupon ethics does take place,
albeit elsewhere,on the stage, anotherof his favoriteterrains,throughdramatic
fictionratherthan in philosophical writings."The theatretransformsideas into
concretelythat existence mustindeedprecedeessence,"
persons, and demonstrates
Pucciani(320).
underscored
Ethical conflictsare envisioned in systematicmises-en-scneat the heart of
many of Sartre'slegendaryplays. In Les mouches,1for instance, Sartre's Orestes
faces an Existentialist double bind, illustratedby his incapacity to avoid
choices- ultimately
temperedby remorseand guiltemblematizedby the (antiqueand
sadisticfliesor Eumenides.Thereis no way out
modern)aggressivelyand annoyingly
of thisdoublebind.Thereis no catharsisforthe Existentialisthero/antihero
(Cohen
1999). Besides showcasing Orestes as its morallyconflictedand psychologically
Les mouchesis a playabout"man's freedomin conflictwiththe
character,
fragmented
impotenceand omnipotenceof the gods" (Pucciani 320). The play also manifests
of reduxversionsof Homericlegends,
featuresin its combination
severalpostmodern
suchas iEschylus'sEumenidesand Euripides's IphigeniaamongtheTauri.
The virtuosoExistentialistdramaturgy
replays fragmentsof Greeklegend and
tragedy,at the core of which rests the case of Electra's passivity and Orestes's
and herloverjEgysthus)in revengeforthemurderof
hesitantmurder(of Clytemnestra
Orestes'sfather(Agamemnon).Thus,the hauntingGreekimaginaryempowersSartre
to focusanew uponquestionsof conflictand moralchoice, in an interweavebetween
a priori freedomand contingentfacticityand, moreover,in a necessarilyhermetic
reference
to the GermanOccupationof France(in itselfa compellingsituation). In
thus focusing,Sartreresortsto an illustration,throughdramaticfiction, of the
unavoidable moral questions, albeit posed contemporaneouslyin philosophical
terms.Thereinlies Sartre'ssecretof creativity.In a Moebius flow accompaniedby
suspensionsand parentheses,philosophical questionsneed the exemplumof fiction
while fictionleads back to philosophicalinquiry.

Foucault: /Estheticsof Ethics

It is fascinatingto note that both Lacan and Foucault, among other intellectual
resortedas well to theGreekswhen
century,
figuresof thesecondhalfof thetwentieth
ethics,althoughtheirchoices were
addressingquestionsof a modern(or post/modern)
variedand divergentlymotivated.In L'usage des plaisirs, Foucault acknowledges
thathe is nota Hellenist,buthe marvelsat the Greeks,at the factthatsexualitywas
so homogeneousthattermssuch as hetero-,homo-,or bisexualitywereabsent from
theirvocabulary(187-89), and thatthe "appetite"drawsto those who are beautiful,
whatevertheirsex (192-95). Foucaultis impressedby a culturethat "stylizes the
aestheticattitudeof existence,"in thatGreekeroticsare interwovenwith an ethics
definedas an artand technof existence,insteadof being definedby prowessderived
fromsexual repression.As a result,eroticsdo not need to produceany prescriptive
codificationof sexual acts and practices(92-93, 138). Foucaultselectsfromthe moral
elaborationsand treatiseshandeddownby the Greektraditionand revisitsespecially
Plato's Symposium(along witha fewothertexts,as we shall discuss).

1.

The play was originallyproducedby Charles Dullin, June3, 1943.

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Foucault and Lacan

107

Sexualityis at the heartof Foucault's discussion about ethics, in the same way
thattheinescapabledilemmasand paradoxesconcerningchoice, and the constitutive
remainedat the heartof Sartre'sethical
doublebindfora consciousness-in-the-world
Greekerotics
(masterfully)
paradigms.In L'usage des plaisirs, Foucaultintertwines
and ethics. This consequentialmove has to be perceivedin the largercontext of
Foucault's philosophy. Earlier,in Discipline and Punish, Foucault suggests vast
studiesin the "micro-physics"of power,thus perhaps alteringprevious models of
powerthat had currencyfromAristotleto Marx. We may recall Foucault's earlier
of power:
memorabledeconstruction
The study of the micro-physicsof power presupposes that the power
exercisedon thebodyis conceivednotas a property,but as a strategy,[...]
thatone shoulddecipherin it a networkof relations,constantlyin tension,
in activity,ratherthan a privilege that one might possess. [...] [T]his
poweris exercisedratherthanpossessed;it is not a "privilege,"acquiredor
preserved,of the dominantclass, but the overall effectof its strategic
positions. (1979:26-27)
This shift in the definitionand elaboration of "power" has far-reaching
consequences. Foucault's (postmodern)notion of power is that of an interdefined
networkof unstablerelations,wherein"power is exercisedratherthan possessed"
(26-27). Relations of power,Foucaultelaborates,are "not localized," nor are they
"univocal." As Foucault's remarkableinterpreter,
Deleuze, highlights punctually,
Foucault's original concepts deconstructthe traditionalpostulates concerningthe
philosophy of power which had theretoforebeen held- postulates of property,
localization, subordination,essence or attribute,and modality (power-in-action
throughthe use of violence or ideology) (25-29). It is upon Foucault's formidable
thesis about the "micro-physics"of power, and power's "capillarity"(not unlike
Deleuze' s "rhizomatic"networks)thatFoucaultis able to questionsexualityafterthe
fact.Thus, insteadof dealing withgeneralmacro-theories
about power,or those of
political powerand the state, Foucaultis able to researchthreemicro-domainsof
everyday life- dietetics, economics (in the etymological sense of "home
- fromwhich much more precise theories of power are
economics"), and erotics
subsequentlyextrapolated.
It is in thisframeof mindthatwe may apprehendFoucault's turningto the study
of Greek erotics. Foucault focuses upon a single question: how did sexuality
problematizeitselfin theGreek and the Greco-Romanepisteme,in contradistinction
to theway sexualityproblematized
itselfin the Christianepistemel(In otherwords,
whatare the genealogy and prehistorythat account for such profoundethical and
epistemic shifts,given that the traditionalChristianconcernsfor sin, the flesh,
renunciation,and puritycame to be dominantethical paradigms,whereas those
concernswerenot presentin the precedingGreek/Greco-Roman
epistemel)Foucault
deconstructsthe traditionalopposition of a Greekexteriorityversus a Christian
"What is called Christianinteriority
is a particularmode of relationship
interiority:
with oneself, comprising precise forms of attention, concern, decipherment,
of the ancientmoralityimplies the
verbalization,confession.[...] [T]he exteriority
elaborationof self,albeitin a different
form"(63).
At the extreme,FoucaultcharacterizesGreekmoralityas "a stylizationof the
aestheticattitudeof existence" (106). Highlighting, although not exclusively,
Diotima's well-knownquestionsabouttheontologyof love itselfin Plato's Republic
(or the wingedcharioteerdominatinghis rebel steeds as metaphorfor the soul's
strugglewithitselfin the Phaedrus), Foucaultchisels his vision of the recursive
dominant moral and ethical tension for the Greeks: the opposition between

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108

Alain J.-J.Cohen

aphrodisia (the dangerousappetitesthatmake us runout of control)and enkrateia

(mastery,and the necessity thereof)(236). This ubiquitoustension is sometimes
delicate, sometimes hard-edgedand inexorable. Since aphrodisia are always
of enkrateiato dominatepleasuresand wishes mustneverbe
dangerous,theattempts
allowed to stop. Withrespectto eroticsand power,thereis a strikinganalogy with
Foucault*
s earliermemorabledeconstruction
of inter-defined
poweras the terrainof
constantlyrenegotiatedinterrelations.
in the strugglebetweenenkrateiaand aphrodisia as
the similarity
Nevertheless,
an unstableinterrelation
in perpetualrenegotiation,
as well, led Foucaultinto another
directionin The Use of Pleasure. In thatwork,he studiesthe Greekeroticcourtship
- the object of love at an age of
between the erastes and the eromenos
- "so desirable,yet whose honor is so fragile"(196), and who should
transition
neitherbe effeminate
nordebauched.Meanwhile,theloverknows thatthe masteryof
thatthe masteryof
aphrodisia derivesfromthemasteryof theself,and, furthermore,
othersderivesfromthissame masteryof theself.
Ethicsand politicsare intertwined
forthemoralsubjectat timesreconfigured
and
overlayedas a politicalsubjectas well. The variouspossible interweavesof mastery
and appetitesfashiona vast spectrumof ethics proposals throughoutthe immense
Greekand Greco-Romanepisteme.To sketchin broadstrokes,it may be said thatfor
Plato (427-347 B.C.), the search for truth,throughto kalon kat'agathon, is a
perpetualflight, higher and higher, towardsidealities, whereas for his disciple
Aristotle(384-322 B.C.) it is a questionof precisionacquiredas a resultof a long
practice,to hittherighttarget,themiddlepath,thefabled"goldenmean."
Aristotleproposesa mixtureof riskand cautionregardingthe interweaveof this
constant tension (the virtueof courage between the extremes of temerityand
cowardice). Epicurus(c. 341-270 B.C.), along with his (Epicurean) successors,
stressesthesame precisionwhenspeakingabouta geometry
of pleasureand pain, the
artof a balancebetweenthem,and the searchforthe rightdosage of aphrodisia. By
theotherGreekStoics (e.g. Diogenes Laertius,Plutarch)and the laterGrecocontrast,
Roman Stoics (e.g. Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius)advocate greatercaution and
prefer self-removal from the theatre of passions- because aphrodisia are
acknowledgedas too dangerous,and masterymeans learningto shelteroneself from
them.
Several extensionsof Foucault'sresearchon ethics maybe presented.We shall
limitourselvesto a briefsketchof foursuch prolongations.
1. Foucault's elaborationcould be questionedforprivilegingPlato ratherthan
Aristotleamong his Greekmodels. If the reversiblefears(those of excess versus
passivity) lead to a lifelong struggleof our enkrateia, throughtemperanceand
moderation,Foucaultmay have paid more attentionto the specifics of Aristotle's
NichomacheanEthics,wherehe wouldhave foundmoreaffinityfora philosophy of
desireand action,of prudence(phronesis)and moderation(sophrosune), of character
and wisdom. Lacan paraphrasessuperbly: "Ethics for Aristotleis a science of
- and of action with
character,the buildingof character,the dynamicsof habits
relationto habits,training,education"(10).
2. As suggestedabove, Foucault'sallusions to Epicuruscould also be probedto
shed morelight upon the complexityof Epicurus'classificationof desires, and the
complexdosage of passions involved in the regulationand the distributionof vices
and virtuesin thegeometry
of pleasure.(Passionswouldonlybe studiedagain in their
"geometry"in Descartes's masterpiece,Traitdes passions,of 1646.)
To extensions 1 and 2 it maybe respondedthatpreservedtextsof Epicurusare
very limitedand, moreover,that Foucaultis less interestedin the complexityof
Greekthoughtabout ethics thanhe is in the genealogyof a certainsouci de soi and

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Foucault and Lacan

109

- and the questionof its transpositioncome

inquitudeabout eroticsand sexuality
the Christianepistemicshift.
s debateon
3. The reference
to Kant is an equallydisturbinglacuna in Foucault*
ethical models in his workon ethics. It is of course a question of the Kant of the
second Kritikwhereinthe practicalmoraljudgmentis delineatedas "synthetica
not"hardwired,"
butalso notjust derivedfromexperience),
priori" (nottranscendent,
in a problematizationof moral maxims in interrelationwith the "categorical
to Kant elsewhere,it may be thathe
GivenFoucault's ease of references
imperative."
did not wantto be drawninto the immenseKantianapparatusand lose sight of the
otherdebate,mentionedabove. This responsein itselfis not satisfactory,insofaras
the question of ethics in the
Kant's problematicshave definitivelyreconfigured
Westerntradition.
4. Anotherprolonguedextension of Foucault's researchwould be particularly
enrichingwithreferenceto psychoanalysis.The same responseas in 3- that,albeit
notas in a fulldialoguewithpsychoanalysis,some of these questionsare presentin
not being
volumeI of TheHistoryof Sexuality,or thatFoucaultmay have preferred
drawnintotheimmensepsychoanalytic
field,methodand apparatus,thebetterto deal
directlywith the Greeks- may not stand as well as the objection regardingthe
Kantianlacuna.Far frombeing anachronistic,a detourthroughpsychoanalysismay
complementthe Greek models. We cannot read the Greeks with transparency,
thatthe psychoanalytic
pretending
apparatuswhichilluminatesthe twentiethcentury
has not reconfigured
all our conceptualapprehensions.
If we take it as axiomatic that the moral subject enjoys a moral autonomy,
withoutwhichethicaldebatesare no longerpertinent,it may no longerbe possible
to engagethequestionof ethicswithouta fullmeasureof the debateabout intentions.
Intentions,
moreover,are now haunted(overdetermined)
by unconsciousmotivation.
Such a debatecannotbe short-circuited.
Lacan.

Ethics, and Affect

BetweenjEschylus and Euripides,Lacan proposes a shrewdreadingof Sophocles' s
Antigone(c 441 B.C.) in L'thique de la psychanalyse, his legendary 1959-60
seminar (published a quarter-century
later). The title may be understoodas an
chiasma- fortheethicsof psychoanalysis
is just as muchat stakeas the
illuminating
psychoanalysisof ethics- in pointingout the immensequestionsaddressedtherein
by Lacan through Antigone. Already in 1905, almost at the origins of
to Dora's
psychoanalysis,Freuddiscusses his own doublebind, in the introduction
case history.He is equallyconflictedby the need to respecthis patient's secrets,
conveyedduringthe sessions' privacy,and by the demandsof science, inasmuchas
an accountof Dora's case wouldbe helpfulto othersin theirsuffering.
As we know,Freudresolvesthisdilemmaforpsychoanalytichistoryby altering
thepatient'scircumstances
so thatthecase historynotbe readas a roman--clef.For
thepsychoanalyst
who has to suspendmoraljudgment(and disbelief)concerningthe
analysand's accounts, questions of ethics are paramountin myriad ways. The
patient's account does not precludethe analyst fromfeeling all the gamut of
emotions, rangingfrompity and fear (and its possible subsequentcatharsis) in
reactionto such accounts,but,rather,
suchjudgmentsand reactionsare to be occulted,
and anamorposed, the better to become therapeuticto the patient when the
psychoanalystlaterintervenesat a propitiousmoment.In strivingfor the difficult
suspension of (moral) judgment, the psychoanalyst's well-known "floating
attention"is of extremepertinence.Streams of writingsabout the analyst's asymmetric"counter-transference,"
apposed to the analysand's transference,have

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110

Alain J.-J.Cohen

- not to mention the analyst's own

called attentionto this delicate operation
possibilityof attackby theEumenides'fury(or are theyhis own Eumenides?).
Lacan too drawsfromthe Greeks and Kant (as well as Goethe and Hegel).
thespecificity
of psychoanalytictheorywithregard
However,he meansto highlight
to ethicalreflection.Given thatdesireand action, desireand fantasy,desireand the
ideal,desireand thelaw,desireand theunconscious,are all by definitioninterwoven
withethics,Lacan thusinterrogates
in Antigonethe significant
metaphorat the heart
of therepresentation
of thatrenownedtragedy,wherethe antinomiesof pleasureand
the sovereigngood seem exponentiallyexpressed.Or, we mightsay, he privileges
Antigoneas the tragedythatmakes manifest,beyondthe traditionalequilibriumof
the pleasureprinciple with the realityprinciple,theirown triangulationwith the
Death drive.
Lacan pointsat firstto thetraditional
views of ethicalconflictin tragedy,thatof
a conflictbetweenequally valorized sovereign goods, and the ensuing paralyzing
and forthe spectator.On the
position,or double bind,bothforthetragicinteractant
one handCreonrefusesto permita funeralforthe deadPolynices, because Polynices
was a traitorto the laws of his city, while Antigonedoes wantto buryher brother
because he is her brother.Lacan even refinesupon the lacuna in the scholarly
of the play:
interpretation
Creonrepresents
thelaws of thecityand identifiesthemwiththe decreesof
thegods, [yet]it cannotbe deniedthatAntigoneis afterall concernedwith
the chthonianlaws, the laws of the earth. [...] [I]t is for the sake of her
brotherwho has descendedinto the subterraneanworld that she resists
Creon's order,in thenameof themostradicallychthonianof relationsthat
are blood relations.In brief,she is in the position to place the Dike of the
gods on herside. (276-77)
does notneed to repeatanew theformidablelessons of
However,psychoanalysis
the classics. Lacan's lesson reconfigures
altogetherthe readingof the play. In his
finalmadabandonment(confronted
by the deathsof his son, his wife, and that of
Antigone),Creon's tragicdestinymayelicittheexpectedpity(for the other)and fear
(foroneself). But Antigoneelicits neitherpity nor fear,Lacan states categorically.
Fromthe beginning,Antigoneknowsno hesitation.She wantsto die, condemnedto
a cruelpunishment,
thatof beingburiedalive in a tomb.She is relentlessin the desire
fordeath,whichunfoldsfromthebeginningto theend of theplay.
This is notthebris (characteristic
of Creon), butratherAntigone'sate (tragic
flaw).The "splendor"(l'clat) of Antigonemaybe beholdento the "effectof beauty
on desire": it reverses all tragic expectations and assumptions. For Lacan's
redefinitionof catharsis, catharsis is "the beauty effect."What the spectator's
catharsisawaits in herlong defianceof the laws, hersought-after
condemnationin
full recognition of the "criminality"of her act, and her magnificentfinal
is thatshe does notyield(about) herdesire.Lacan alludes to one of his
lamentation,
earlierwritings
aboutSade and Sadean crime,to remindus: "It is not fornothingthat
crimeis one boundaryof ourexploration
of desire,or thatit is on thebasis of a crime
thatFreudattempted
to reconstruct
thegenealogyof thelaw" (260).
Lacan is, of course, referring
to the dipal structure,
to the dialectics of the
castrationprinciple,and to the murderof Laios in this dipal structure.
Lacan's
deconstructed
legendary"R Schema"gives a glimpseof thepostmodern
subject,split
and fragmented
intoa decentered
I-effect.
In myanalysisof the"R Schema," I pointed
out how for Lacan the complex quadrangleof the "Real," i.e., the Moebius strip
(formedby linking M to m, and i to I), providesthe means forfiguringthe axis of
desire,M-i, (i.e., signifiersof "mother"in relationto signifiersof "image") and the

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Foucault and Lacan

111

axis of identity,I-m, (i.e., the "Ideal of the moi" in relationto "moi") (1996). The
flow of the Moebius strip consists in this circulationof desire into identityand
identityinto desire.
The "R Schema" may be complex, but it helps figurethe relationof affectand
Whom-I-desire
transforms
who-I-amjust as muchas who-I-amaffectswhomidentity.
I-desire.In its origin,theinfant'sdesirefor"mother"is thwarted
by the law, by the
intervention
of the symbolicthird,or the dipus and the symbolicorder.Thus, all
futuredesires recathectsomethingor other fromthis original transgression.The
crimein the symbolicorder(i.e.,against Laios) constructsand structures
the law of
desire.For Lacan, the psychoanalytictheoryof "jouissance" accounts for the fact
thatwe are not only dealing withthe questionof a given pleasureprincipleand its
equilibriumwith anothergiven realityprinciplebut, instead, with sex and death.
Thereis therefore
an elementthatis transgressiveand "criminal"at the root of all
desire.This is thedesirewhichis made hyperbolicin dramaticfiction,and a fortiori
in tragedy.It is this systematicallysustainedtransgressivepowerthataccounts for
the clat of Antigone's character."She pushes to the limit the realization of
thatmightbe called thepureand simpledesireof deathas such" (282).
something
The lessons forpsychoanalysisthatLacan extrapolatesfromthe play Antigone
interrelate
the notionof desireand betrayal.They wereknownby everyLacanian of
mygeneration.They tookthe formof threepropositionsand an addendum
corollary
whichmeritquotingat length:
First,the only thing one can be guilty of is giving groundrelative to
one's desire. Second, the definitionof a hero: someone who may be
betrayedwithimpunity.Third,this is somethingthat not everyonecan
thedifference
betweenthe ordinaryman and a hero,
achieve; it constitutes
and it is, therefore,
moremysteriousthanone mightthink. The betrayal
that almost always occurs for the ordinaryman sends him back to the
serviceof the "goods," but withthe proviso thathe will neveragain find
thatfactorwhichrestoresa sense of directionto thatservice.[...] [F]ourth:
Thereis no other good than that which may serve to pay the price for
access to desire- giventhatdesireis understoodhereas the metonymyof
our being. (321)
Antigoneis the heroine. She is betrayed,of course,by everyone,because she
neveryieldsin herdesireto die. Greekheroesare all betrayed.Otherbetrayalsinclude
Moses's dyingbeforegettingto thePromisedLand, Socrates'sbeing given hemlock;
Christ's crucifixion.Perhaps we need such heroes to give us a taste of ideality,
inasmuchas theseheroesremindus of how muchwe have compromisedand yieldedin
ourown desire,all forthe sake of "goods." Perhapsthatideality correspondsto the
inestimablepriceof access to (theto-be-betrayed)
desire.In reinterpreting
the fabled
catharticeffect,Lacan' s virtuosoreadingof Antigonedistills an apprehensionof the
formidableand contagious beauty of Antigone herself as a transsubstantiated
reminder
of theartof existence.

Note on the Postmodern

- a modernismconceived as both a
The place of psychoanalysis in modernism
historicaloccurrencein early twentiethcentury,and a conceptualconstructthatstill
sought systems, "great accounts" or T. O. E's (theories of everything)--is
interrelated
withthe avatarsof the postmoderneffect.Psychoanalysis, one of the
mostsophisticatedand comprehensive
modelsever offeredin the fieldsof cognition
(epistemology), affect(emotion system), action and motivation(pragmatics) and
aesthetics, may very well be the last creation of "modernism." However,

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Alain J.-J.Cohen

112

psychoanalysisis notjust anotherspeculativesystem(wherewe wouldoppose Freud

to Spinoza or Kant). Freudquotes liberally fromthe history of philosophical
systems,buthis is not anotherspeculativephilosophicalsystem.His is of a different
type.
thatof the clinical (the
debatesare anchoredin a bipolarity:
The psychoanalytic
and thatof the theoretical.Freud'sfamousnarrative
narratives
of pain and suffering)
case studies, on hysteria, phobia, obsession, paranoia, narcissism and
- and Lacan's exegesis of them
- interrelatewith the constructionof a
depression
modelof themind.This modelof the mindconstitutesone of the most
sophisticated
thetrichotomy
of the id/ego/superego
(upon which
complexsynthesesof modernity:
Lacan superimposestheReal/theImaginary/the
Symbolic,and the language-modelas
an alternativefor the biology-model), and is intertwinedwith a rhetoric of
of the Unconscious.In fact,it is this very
drives,or withits highlighting
conflicting
complexitythat makes it so powerfulin the discourse of a fragmenting"postmodernity."
Lyotardmaybe rightabouttheend of the "greataccounts,"but the split
and fragmented
as an algorithm,in the complexity
postmodernsubjectrepresented
addressedbyLacan's "R Schema,"may well correspondto whatBaudrillarddescribes
as the"Age of theSimulacral."
I suggestthatLacan's readingof the"effectof the beautiful"in Antigonemay be
consideredas an inquiryregardingnothingless thanthe place of affectin ethics. In
whatamountsto a treatiseon aesthetics,
Damischin Le jugementde Pans, also returns
to theGreeksand examinesall the myriadaspects, motivationsand consequencesof
Paris's judgment,caughtbetweenthethreegoddesses,as well as caughtbetweenFreud
(and desire)and Kant (the sublimeand the beautiful).Trappedin a truedouble bind
(perhapsin a triplebind?), his ultimatechoice of Aphrodite(in her clat, in her
beauty,butwas it a "choice"?) provokedthe modelof all wars. Was it not
terrifying
themodelforall future
ethicsand aesthetics?
Postface
For DominiqueDesanti,and in memoryof OresteF. Pucciani,"le Fennec":
Je ne me souviens pas (affectivement)d'un autrefois o je ne
connaissaispas DominiqueDesanti,mmesi je sais objectivementque
dj en 1968, c'est Oreste Pucciani qui nous avait prsents
Hollywood,et que nous nous sommesrevusen compagnie de Michel
Foucault,de FranoiseGilot,de JonasSalk La Jolla, de bien d'autres,
Pariset ailleurs.De mmequ'avec OrestePucciani,j'ai toujoursgot
avec Dominiqueau plaisir esthtico-thique
de refaire le monde
dans chacune de nos conversations. Parisienne mais globe-trotter,
intellectuelleet crivain,inclassable, Dominiqueprise le dtail hic et
nunc de la chronique autant que les envoles philosophiques.
Dominiqueet Jean-Toussaint
(Touky),les Chats de Saint-Germain
ou de la rueClauzel, configurent
un vaste bestiairequi auraitfait les
dlicesde La Fontaine(selon Louis Marin,le plus brillantdes penseurs
de l'ge Classique). Dans l'entregento rayonnentles Chats ,
Orestetait le Fennec , Jacquesle Cheval , et ainsi de suite
pour maints amis, dans une rigoureuse indexicalit qui excluait
l'arbitraire.Pourmoi-mmeon avait essay Hrisson , mais sans
tropde conviction. Au GrandSicle, La Fontaine, Descartes,Pascal,
interalio s, auraientt les aficionadosdu salon des Chats. De mme,
Diderotet les Encyclopdistesauraientcompt parmiles habitus au
sicle des Lumires.Tant de ce que le sicle nous aura appris est

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Foucault and Lacan

113

pass par l'thiquedu dialogueet par le dialogue de l'thiquenous rendonsci hommage DominiqueDesanti.

dont

University
of California,San Diego
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