Jacques Lacan is one of the greatest representatives of the psychodynamic current initiated years ago by Sigmund Freud, also one of the great figures of post-modernity. As admired by some as he was despised by others, his theoretical legacy has gone far beyond the clinical field in which it originated and has permeated many areas of philosophy and social science. Even intellectuals of such renown as Slavoj Zizek base their philosophy on the work of Lacan.

However, Jaques Lacan is not known for formulating simple and easy to understand explanations, precisely. He left few texts in writing, preferred to divulge his ideas orally in seminars and, moreover, his ideas were reformulated several times over the years .

That is why people who intend to enter into Lacan’s work do not face an easy task. However, and although it is impossible to understand the work of this post-Freudian by reading a single article, one can have in mind a series of guidelines to begin to study his work.

7 principles for understanding Lacan

Below you can read some ideas to understand Lacan .

1. Start by learning about Freud

Jacques Lacan structures his work based on the great ideas about the human psyche proposed by Sigmund Freud years ago. After all, Lacan is a follower of the psychodynamic current , and since his years as a student he wanted to apply the principles of psychoanalysis in the treatment of psychotic patients in mental institutions.

That is why to understand Lacan it is absolutely essential to know well the work of Sigmund Freud and his main theories, for example the one that talks about the human unconscious.

2. Read about structuralism and post-structuralism

Lacan’s work is heavily influenced by the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who is considered one of the peers of structuralism. Learning about his distinction between signifier and signified is of capital importance for understanding Lacan, who theorized a great deal about phenomena of a symbolic character .

To contextualize Saussure’s ideas, it is important to understand what structuralism and, by contrast, post-structuralism is.

3. Read introductory books to Lacan

Beginning to understand Lacan from introductory guides can make one begin to interiorize the work of this intellectual from a biased perspective, but if one chooses the starting point well, it totally compensates. These readings will allow you to detect in a relatively easy way what are the fundamental pillars of Lacan’s theories, in order to start building knowledge from those foundations.

If you know English, for example, you can start with this introductory book to Lacan.

4. Read texts by Lacan, but better if they are commented on

After having chosen an introductory book to Lacan’s thought, you probably don’t have the time or desire to read another one to review the same topics from a slightly different point of view, so you can already venture to read the texts of this thinker .

However, it would not be a bad idea to use texts with comments from other authors in between. This will help you to become familiar with the vocabulary he uses, which is important to understand Lacan because he used everyday terms with another meaning than the majority of the population uses. By the way, if you understand French, there is no excuse not to read the original texts .

5. Participates in learning groups

To transmit his Ideas, Lacan preferred to do it verbally, making his audience participate in a kind of learning session in real time based on the Socratic method. Since we no longer have the possibility of attending Jacques Lacan’s classes, discussion sessions with other learners of Lacan’s work can produce the same effect: confronting ideas and interpretations, applying what has been read to recent cases, etc.

Especially interesting is this lecture (which also had a moment of extreme tension, from minute 28):

6. Keep in mind the limitations of Lacan’s work

The proposals of the psychodynamic current have no basis to explain the functioning of the human mind, as Freud intended, and Lacan’s work is no exception to this . His contributions are, in any case, of a philosophical nature and of interest to the world of the humanities. It is necessary to keep this in mind so as not to fall into the trap of making everything that is known about reality fit into Lacan’s explanatory schemes. That would be little less than fundamentalism and would not help to make a faithful image of the theoretical legacy of this thinker.

7. Be patient

Understanding Lacan is an arduous task and there are very few shortcuts to learning quickly about his work . That is why it is worthwhile to be mentally aware that internalizing Lacan’s legacy will be a task that will require years of dedication in order not to become frustrated.