Modern Materialistic Theories of the Subject - between Louis Althusser and Jacques Lacan

Abstract

Basing on an analysis of L. Althusser’s and J. Lacan’s theoretical heritage, the study aims to identify the main approaches to the issue of subjectivity on the philosophical scene of the middle of the XX - early XXI century. The article contrasts two ethical models of understanding the subject: Althusser’s “ethics of alienation” and Lacan’s “ethics of separation”. The first model represents a scientific field outlined by Marxist socio-political studies (Louis Althusser’s “theoretical anti-humanism”), while the second one represents a field of psychoanalytical knowledge (Jacques Lacan’s rethinking of Sigmund Freud’s theory foundations). Scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that both the models are being analysed in reliance on the following criterion: the ethical position that the subject itself takes in them. As a result, it is revealed which of the two models presents itself as the most operational within the framework of modern philosophy.

References

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About this article

Publication history

• Received: December 1, 2020.
• Published: February 10, 2021.

Keywords

• постмарксизм
• теория субъекта
• психоанализ
• «этика сепарации»
• post-Marxism
• theory of subject
• psychoanalysis
• “ethics of separation”

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