Why Lacan Returns to Freud
In this opening episode of the series Reading Seminar I and II: Lacan’s Return to Freud Revisited, William Gomes introduces the central question that guides Jacques…
Listen to episodePODCAST SERIES · 20 EPISODES
Lacan: Seminars I & II.
A 20-part journey through Lacan’s return to Freud, analytic technique and the ego.
Start listeningFreud’s Discovery and Its Distortion
This episode reconstructs Sigmund Freud’s original discovery of the unconscious and examines how that discovery was transformed in later psychoanalytic practice. William Gomes explains how…
Listen to episodePsychoanalysis Is Not Psychology
This episode draws a sharp distinction between psychoanalysis and psychology in Lacan’s early teaching. William Gomes explains why psychology focuses on behaviour, adjustment, and functioning,…
Listen to episodeSpeech as the Medium of Analysis
This episode explains why speech, rather than behaviour or expression, is the central medium of psychoanalysis. William Gomes distinguishes speech from communication and shows how…
Listen to episodeFull Speech, Empty Speech, and Analytic Listening
This episode introduces Lacan’s distinction between full speech and empty speech and explains its importance for analytic listening. William Gomes shows how empty speech reinforces…
Listen to episodeTruth, Error, and the Indirect Path of the Unconscious
This episode examines Lacan’s conception of truth as partial, indirect, and destabilising. William Gomes explains why slips, mistakes, jokes, and detours are privileged paths to…
Listen to episodeResistance Reconsidered
This episode revisits the concept of resistance and shows how Lacan displaces it from the patient to the analytic situation itself. William Gomes explains why…
Listen to episodeTransference Beyond Relationship
This episode challenges relational and emotional models of transference. William Gomes explains transference as a structural function tied to speech and address rather than feelings…
Listen to episodeInterpretation as Act, Not Explanation
This episode explains why Lacanian interpretation is an act rather than an explanation. William Gomes distinguishes interpretation from meaning giving commentary and shows how timing,…
Listen to episodeTechnique as Ethical Position
This episode explains why Lacan treats analytic technique as an ethical position rather than a set of methods. William Gomes clarifies the meaning of neutrality,…
Listen to episodeWhy the Ego Becomes the Central Problem
This episode introduces the critique of ego psychology that defines Seminar II. William Gomes explains how the ego came to be treated as the centre…
Listen to episodeThe Ego Is Not the Subject
This episode clarifies the distinction between the ego and the subject of the unconscious. William Gomes explains why the subject is divided, decentered, and constituted…
Listen to episodeNarcissism and the Imaginary Dimension
This episode examines narcissism as a structural relation to image rather than a personality trait. William Gomes introduces the Imaginary register and explains its links…
Listen to episodeKnowledge, Opinion, and Truth in Analysis
This episode explores the role of knowledge in psychoanalysis and its potential to function as resistance. William Gomes distinguishes knowledge from opinion and truth, showing…
Listen to episodeBeyond the Pleasure Principle Revisited
This episode revisits Sigmund Freud’s text Beyond the Pleasure Principle and explains its importance for Lacan’s early teaching. William Gomes examines repetition as a phenomenon that exceeds…
Listen to episodeRepetition, Automatism, and Structure
This episode deepens the analysis of repetition by introducing automatism and structure. William Gomes explains why repetition is not habit or behaviour but an effect…
Listen to episodeThe Emergence of the Symbolic Order
This episode introduces the Symbolic order as the structural register that organises subjectivity. William Gomes explains how the Symbolic differs from the Imaginary and why…
Listen to episodeThe Ego as Resistance
This episode examines the ego explicitly as a form of resistance in analytic work. William Gomes explains why ego strength can block access to the…
Listen to episodeTechnique After the Ego
This episode explores what analytic technique looks like once the ego is displaced from the centre. William Gomes examines silence, interruption, and refusal of guidance…
Listen to episodeWhat It Means to Understand Seminars I and II
In this concluding episode, William Gomes clarifies what it means to understand Lacan’s Seminar I and Seminar II. The episode synthesises the series by identifying…
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