What are we to make of Lacan’s engagement with topology? Was it an intriguing but ultimately fruitless digression? The quixotic quest of someone fading into the twilight? Was it madness? This seminar will start from the supposition that Lacan’s late teaching marked a profound innovation, one that broke with the clinic of the signifier and posited a subjectivity that is essentially spatiotemporal. By grappling with mathematical principles not directly addressed by Lacan (and exploring their applications in clinical vignettes), we will attempt to expand the project of conceptualizing the topological Real and to consider its ramifications for the direction of the cure.

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Adams, C., & Franzosa, R. (2008). Introduction to Topology: Pure and Applied. Pearson.

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Cheng, E. (2023). The Joy of Abstraction. Cambridge University Press.

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Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Massumi, B., Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1980)

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Lacan, J. (1974-75). Seminar XXII (Gallagher, C., Trans.). https://www.lacainireland.com

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Lacan, J. (1976-77). Seminar XXIV (Gallagher, C., Trans.). https://www.lacainireland.com

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Lacan, J. (1977-78). Seminar XXV (Gallagher, C., Trans.). https://www.lacainireland.com

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Lacan, J. (1978-79). Seminar XXVI (Collins, D., Trans.). https://www.apwonline.org