Jacques Lacan und die Religion

Jacques Lacan und die Religion

Workshop
September 5–6, 2024, Katholische Akademie in Berlin

Lacan’s psychoanalysis is associated with the claim of a consistent return to Freud’s insights. However, while Freud wrote relevant studies on the theory of religion, Lacan’s texts contain at best scattered discussions of the topic of religion. Regardless of this, however, he works with concepts that virtually invite a theo-philosophical examination of his version of psychoanalysis.
If there is a guiding concept in Lacan’s theorizing, then it is the concept of desire. Desire is neither a property, capacity nor possession of existence, but describes it itself in its aspirations, entanglements and deceptions. With reference to Plato, one could say that it stands for a dynamic of the psyche that cannot be shut down. However, this idea is only plausible if human existence is defined against the background of a premise based on the theory of negativity, as lack or emptiness. This connection between lack and desire is not only revealing in terms of religious philosophy, but also in terms of cultural theory.
The workshop will explore the connection between these two aspects from Jewish and Christian perspectives and in conversation with various academic disciplines.