Metalanguage, Formal Structures, And The Dissolution Of Transference

This essay attempts precise the meaning and significance of Lacan's claim that 'there is no metalanguage', and to link this to issues of mathematical formalisation and the end of analysis. My investigation will be conducted against the implicit background of another of his well- known claims: 'the unconscious is structured like a language.' I will approach this task, however, from the opposite direction. The question then becomes: In what sense can we say that Lacan thinks that there is a metalanguage?…