A Search for Clarity

Milner's original mapping of an epistemology of the Unconscious provides a systematic overview of Lacan's main programs and their subsequent deconstruction, along with witty asides, memorable one-liners, and unexpected philosophical parallels. Here is clarity so bright and sharp that it illuminates without blinding." - Jean-Michel Rabat, author of Kafka L.O.L.: Notes on Promethean Laughter "Independently of whether one agrees with its at times draconian conclusions, Milner's L'oeuvre claire, now finally available in English translation, remains one of the most significant, cogent, and influential contributions to the field of Lacanian studies. Moving from the disarming yet crucial premise that we should consider Lacan as a 'crystal-clear author,' this book makes compulsory reading for anyone interested in the complex status of psychoanalysis vis- -vis science, epistemology, and ontology." - Lorenzo Chiesa, author of The Virtual Point of Freedom: Essays on Politics, Aesthetics, and Religion (Northwestern University Press, 2016)

Jean-Claude Milner is an emeritus professor of linguistics at Paris Diderot University and a former director of the Collge International de Philosophie. Milner was a student of Louis Althusser and attended Jacques Lacan's seminars. One of the founders of the trailblazing journal Cahiers pour l'analyse, Milner has published more than thirty-five books in French, ranging from contributions to linguistics, philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, history, pop culture, and politics.Ed Pluth is a professor of philosophy at California State University, Chico. He is the author of Signifiers and Acts: Freedom in Lacan's Theory of the Subject and Alain Badiou: A Philosophy of the New.

Translator's Introduction Preface to the English Translation by Jean-Claude Milner Introduction 1. Considerations on an oeuvre 2. The Doctrine of Science 3. The First Lacanian Classicism 4. The Second Lacanian Classicism 5. The Deconstruction Afterword Bibliography Notes Index