Science and theory of discourses

• Grant number: 14/02382-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: February 08, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Nelson da Silva Junior
• Grantee: Paulo Antonio de Campos Beer
• Supervisor: Alain Abelhauser
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Rennes 2, Saint Brieuc, France
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/25222-3 - Issues and tensions between psychoanalysis and philosophy, BP.MS

Abstract

The relation between psychoanalysis and science is a very discussed subject but still important, especially in a moment when the field of psychopathology is filled with intense debates concerning the validity of different knowledges. Under these circumstances, the manner with which Lacan develops this relation becomes indeed interesting, particularly because this author contemplates the fields of psychoanalysis, epistemology and philosophy of science. In his work, the text "Science and Truth" (1966) is the moment when he deals with the question more profoundly. Nevertheless, the theory of discourses, presented more definitively in his seminar about "The other side of psychoanalysis" (1970), also has to be considered once some of the ideas there presented have a retroactive effect on the first text. However, we may notice some ambiguity in the manner of how this theory can be articulated to the subject of science. Lacan himself oscillates between two positions: he attaches science to the discourse of the master as well as to the discourse of the hysteric. Moreover, later authors attach science to the discourse of the university, or even postulate a fifth discourse (indeed, Lacan uses the phrase "discourse of science" many times). The proposal of this project is to study the relation between science and the theory of discourses. We aim thereby to establish a rigorous conceptual frame of the subject, which might assist us to deeply examine the relation between psychoanalysis and science. (AU)