The Discourse and the Psychoanalytic Method

Abstract

The paper involves a short development on the performing aspect of discourse in the analytical transference. It is through the transference that the object is actualized (made present) both in its structuring aspect and as a symptomatic aspect of the subjective organization, and it is also from the analyst’s words, with all the discourse’s prerogatives (words, gestures, tone, syntax, and silence) that the dimension of the object is inferred, brought nearer, in a unique manner, by the mere act of saying. The analyst makes the object present, thus allowing a new drive turn which allows the loss that is necessary for the occurrence of a psychoanalytic symbolization instance; and thus, an opportunity for a new, different re-writing is available. The perlocutionary strength of the performative (John Austin), allowing a reinforcement of the referent in performative expressions, is thus linked to the three components of Peirce’s Semiotics, i.e. perceptive elements (including all sensorial aspects), an experience with the object, and the symbol as an interpretant. In Psychoanalysis, conversely to Linguistics or Semiotics (Charles S. Peirce), the discourse is inhabited by the subject. In the discourse, an experiencing experience, in the gerund, is mise en acte, where symbolization, always indicating a loss, leads to a meaningful articulation. The paper suggests considering the signifying nature of a gesture, an action that, while in the gerund, imposes a grammatical profile on perceptive experiences, and thus the possibility for signification. The icon, the index, and the symbol (Peirce) are the constitutive elements of a triad which occurs in a spiraled and simultaneous manner in psychoanalytic symbolization, all indicating a subjective production. The discourse implies affection for and effects on the Other, knotting together the subject’s and the Other’s unconscious wish.