The Notion of the One in the Light of Lacanian Psychoanalysis

Abstract

The article concerns on the interpretation of the One in Lacanian psychoanalysis. This notion derived from the Eleatic philosophy and subsequently was developed in a specific way by Plato and the Neoplatonists. This concept also occupies an important place in Lacanian psychoanalysis. In his seminars, Lacan drew attention to the similarity between philosopher’s and narcissist’s discourse when they speak of the total unity. Since the subject never encounters such unity in his experience, there should be an instance producing the idea of totality. According to Lacan, the unconscious is responsible for this, both in philosopher’s and narcissist’s discourse. The narcissistic idea of the One is provoked by the hopes of finding the unity of the self. The narcissist is painfully aware of the fragmentation of the inner experience and tries to reassemble the self through identification with the object of desire, which in Lacanian psychoanalysis is called object a. The ideal for the narcissist is complete autarky, when the total unity is embodied in the figure of the Big Other. Lacan demonstrates that the One in the narcissistic experience is an image of the narcissistic self, idealized and purified from any specific content. Structurally, the same logic is reproduced in philosophical discourse, only the One is described as the highest transcendental reality. Thus, Lacan concludes that the instance that gives impetus to the idea of the One is unconscious fantasy. The driving force behind this process is the combination of desire and pleasure. By examining the position of pleasure, Lacanian psychoanalysis reconstructs the ‘ontology’ and ‘ethics’ of the unconscious that guides it in its constructing the fantasy of the total One.