The necessity of loss hits the subject with particular virulence: rather than losing something, the subject sacrifices itself.

Publié le Catégorisé comme Cut&Paste, psychanalyse Étiqueté ,

In his addendum to the Rat Man case (S.E., X, pp. 253-318), Freud is aware of this paradox. The patient repeatedly addresses prohibitory statements to himself in the form: « What sacrifice am I prepared to make in order to . . . ? » (p. 271). It could not be more succinctly expressed that the suture of the subject demands the sacrifice of jouissance. Greed and austerity paradoxically concur for him who is willing to forego his jouissance for the sake of vindicating the signifier. This attitude qualifies the alienation denoted as « I am not thinking. » It implies a rejection of the unconscious that can be expressed as « I am counting. » Lacan followed Freud’s text verbatim when reading the signifier « rat » as jouissance written off to the signifier: the obsessional posts his jouissance like cash to the ledger.

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