Bending the Structure: Jacques Lacan Along the Axis of Structuralism and Poststructuralism

Year 2022, Issue: 56, 99 - 112, 05.07.2022

Merve Günday , Erman Kaçar

https://doi.org/10.26650/arcp.1095500

Abstract

Lacan wrote and generated ideas at the intersection of structuralism and
poststructuralism, and the question of where he stands in this intersection is crucial to
understand his conception of the subject. This essay takes the multiplicity of views on
Lacan as a structuralist and a poststructuralist as its starting point and aims to weigh
these labels against the background of his specific theories and views. We suggest
that in his early phase when he was categorised as a structuralist, he had the seeds
of his later poststructuralist phase, and when he was generating his poststructuralist
ideas, he was building them on his structuralist legacy. This evolution is similar to that
of Roland Barthes in that he establishes an ongoing dialog between structuralism
and poststructuralism: he is both a threshold figure suggesting an amalgam of
these movements, but he is also a dividing figure as his evolution points at the
unbridgeable rupture between structuralism and poststructuralism. 

Keywords

Jacques Lacan, Derrida, Saussure, Structuralism, Poststructuralism

Yapıyı Bükmek: Yapısalcılık ve Postyapısalcılık Ekseninde Jacques Lacan

Abstract

Lacan’ın düşüncelerinde yapısalcı ve postyapısalcı öğeleri bulmak mümkündür
ve Lacancı özne kavramı ancak Lacan’ın bu ikisi arasında nerede konumlandığının
anlaşılması ile açıklık kazanır. Lacan’ın yapısalcı ya da postyapısalcı olduğuna
dair ileri sürülen farklı düşünceleri çıkış noktası alan bu çalışma, onunla ilgili bu
sınıflandırmaları onun teori ve fikirleri çerçevesinde sorunsallaştırır. Bu çalışmada,
Lacan’ın yapısalcı olarak nitelendirildiği ilk dönemlerindeki kuramsal tartışmalarında
postyapısalcı nüveler barındırırken, postyapısalcı düşüncelerini ürettiği sonraki
dönemlerde ise bu düşüncelerini daha önceki yapısalcı fikirlerine dayandırdığını ileri
sürmekteyiz. Yapısalcılık ve Postyapısalcılık arasında süregelen bir diyalog oluşturması
bakımından Lacan epistemolojisindeki bu değişim Roland Barthes’da gözlemlenen
değişime denktir: Lacan her iki yaklaşımı bir araya getirerek bu iki konum arasında
eşik görevi görürken aynı zamanda, çalışmalarının ilerleyen dönemlerinde görüldüğü
üzere, yapısalcılık ve postyapısalcılık arasındaki uçuruma vurgu yaparak bir ayrışma
noktası da sunar. 

Keywords

Jacques Lacan, Derrida, Saussure, Yapısalcılık, Postyapısalcılık

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