What might a School be?

This paper is a response to Lacan's reference to the ancient philosophical schools when he was launching the school in 1964. It aims to shed light on the reference through a consideration of material which describes the ancient schools. This material indicates that Lacan‟s school differs in its arrangement and aims from other educational and training institutions. In the Preamble of 1964 Lacan describes his idea of a school as having the sense of "certain places of refuge, indeed operational bases against what could already be called the discontents of civilisation‟.[1] What follows are some points gathered from a cursory consideration of some key texts describing the ancient schools of Athens with a view to, one, better appreciating Lacan's proposal for a Freudian school in Paris in 1964;[2] and two, allowing this material to shed light on the current project of the Irish School for Lacanian Psychoanalysis.…