Please join us for a seminar by Aaron Schuster on: From Hedonism to the Symptom: The Destiny of Lust
In this seminar, we will examine Lacan’s notion of jouissance, through the lens of Plato’s dialogue Philebus, his most advanced treatment of the question of pleasure and the good life. How is Lacan’s notion of enjoyment both grounded in Plato’s theory on pleasure as well as a decisive break from it? What are the moral and ontological implications of Lacan’s idea of enjoyment? How does it relate to Freud’s attempts to theorize the nature of Lust? In addition to the interpretation of Lacan, we will sketch a history of pleasure, starting with Plato’s critique of hedonism and ending with Freud’s paradoxical notion of the “unfelt pleasure” of the symptom. From Greek hedonism to the neurotic symptom: is this the destiny of Lust?
Aaron Schuster is a philosopher and writer, based in Amsterdam. He is the author of The Trouble with Pleasure: Deleuze and Psychoanalysis (MIT Press, 2016). He was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago in 2016, and will be at the Society of Fellows, Cornell University in 2018-2019.
You are invited to read Aaron Schuster’s texts here:
Is Pleasure a Rotten Idea?
Being and Enjoyment in Plato’s Philebus: A Lacanian Perspective
Tuesday May 8 at 18:30 – 20:00
Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, Room G24
**FREE AND OPEN TO ALL**