Synthesis, Sexuation, Sinthome: Deleuze with Lacan

Derived from Lovett’s recent book Deleuze, Lacan, and the Becoming of Sexuation: A Philosophical Inquiry into Sexual Difference, this presentation begins by asking about the ontological status of sexual difference. Using Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler as exemplars of opposed philosophical positions, Lovett shows that sexual difference is, to use a phrase taken from Gilles Deleuze, a “question-problem complex.” Mediating this tension, Lovett proposes that we would do well to read Deleuze and Lacan together, despite the widespread belief that they are incompatible. This talk therefore reads Deleuze into Lacan and Lacan into Deleuze, showing that Lacan’s notions of sexuation and sinthome can be read as the completion of the passive syntheses and dynamic geneses that Deleuze offers in Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense. This leads to the conclusion that sexuation is, in all cases, sinthomatic. In short, Lovett argues that the problem of sexual difference links Deleuze and Lacan and that this linkage works to effectively reconcile Irigaray and Butler.

Speaker Biography

Matt Lovett holds a PhD in Philosophy from Duquesne University; is Teaching Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Pittsburgh; and is a practicing candidate analyst in formation with the Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis.

About the Event

The seminar will take place on Zoom on Thursday 26 November 2026 at 7pm-8:30pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/UTC).

The event is free with registration via Eventbrite. The event is open to anyone with an interest in psychoanalysis, Lacanian theory, clinical practice, or related fields, and we warmly welcome participants at all stages, including students, practitioners and early-career researchers. The Zoom link will be available for registrants on the ‘Online Event Page’ (found when accessing your ticket on Eventbrite) on the day of the seminar.