Castoriadis: the Radical Imagination and the Post-Lacanian Unconscious

Abstract

Castoriadis's interpretation of Freud centres on the idea of the radical imagination; the introduction of this concept into psychoanalysis has consequences which affect all levels of the Freudian project. As Castoriadis sees it, Freud's foundational insights are not in dispute, but the reference to the imagination makes it possible to articulate them in new ways and build new bridges between psychoanalysis and social theory. In its capacity as a source of representation and meaning, the radical imagination is - together with the drives - a `co-foundation of the psyche'; further reflection along those lines leads Castoriadis to radicalise the concept of the unconscious and introduce the notion of the primal monad, but at the same time, his revised concept of sublimation links the psyche to the social-historical world. In all these regards, there are significant affinities between Castoriadis's work and the post-Lacanian currents in French psychoanalysis.