The Letter, Issue 52, Spring 2013, Pages 57 - 55
GODISNOWHERE PSYCHOANALYSIS – NEGATIVE ONTOLOGY, NEGATIVE THEOLOGY
Donat Desmond
The ambiguity or pun in the title ‘God is now here’,‘God is no where‘ is entirely intentional as it explores Lacan’s subject engaged in the task of analysis depicted as a ‘negative ontology’ influenced by Hegel’s concept of ‘Begierde’ (Desire) and Heidegger’s concept of ‘Dasein’ (Being there) or alternately as a ‘negative theology’ where the later Lacan’s RSI facilitates a God of the Real which is neither of the Symbolic or the Imaginary. This article does not argue in an evidential way regarding the superiority of one position over another but argues that both have validity within a Lacanian reading where truth is a subjective ontological position rather than an objective epistemological position.
Keywords: epistemology, ontology, Hegel, Heidegger, RSI, sinthome, lack.
This paper arose from participation during the academic session 2013-2014, in an ISLP Cartel Group at Milltown studying Lacan’s (1974-5) Seminar XXII RSI and Seminar XXIII Joyce and the Sinthome (1975-6). In the latter seminar, James Joyce is studied as a subject for whom the instatement of the nom du père in inserting him into the symbolic was deficient. In a profound sense Joyce’s writing was an attempt to make a name for himself, a name and a writing which would intrigue, baffle and confound future generations of scholars.