Qu’est-ce qu’une fiction ? Anatomie des fictions de Freud à Lacan

Abstract

AimsWhen the issue is the relationship between psychoanalysis and fiction, fiction is often envisaged from the point of view of art and literature. This perspective is essential, yet it is important not to underestimate another little explored aspect: the epistemology of fiction, which relates at once to fiction as a form of knowledge and to the theory of fiction. Thus, the aim of this article is to identify different types of fiction and to determine how they took shape in different philosophical traditions, from Freud to Lacan. In this context, this text sets out to link the possible meanings of the word “fiction” in psychoanalytic thought and classic theories of fiction. This approach thus has a critical dimension, exploring various types of fiction – “aesthetic fictions”, “heuristic fictions”, “constructions”, “speculations” and “symbolic fictions”. MethodThis text is the result of critical research on fictions and theories of fiction, entailing the epistemological and historical analysis of Freudian and Lacanian positions. The theory of fiction is considered in its relationship with its models and the history of Western philosophy. ResultsThis article shows how fictions have different meanings and modes of existence: aesthetic fictions, theoretical fictions, meta-psychological speculations and linguistic fictions are successively explored. Lacan opened up new ways of thinking about the symbolic dimension of fictions, offering a reappraisal of the Freudian position and a subversion of the symbolic order. DiscussionFreud's definition of fiction in the “aesthetic” sense is a clear starting point. However, fiction cannot be reduced to the field of art and literature. There are different types of fiction: a concept in physics such as the atom, or a “fundamental concept” such as drive, can in certain conditions be considered as fictions. The concept of fiction is then discussed from a “theoretical” viewpoint. The specificity of “heuristic” fiction is linked back to the main precursors of Freudian fiction: Kant and Vaihinger. The complexity of the concept of fiction also results from the existence of different “models”, which evolved from Freud to Lacan. So while the Freudian model is “heuristic”, Lacan's approach explores another dimension, essentially linguistic. This epistemological shift is examined and discussed. ConclusionThe epistemological status of fiction is not a timeless “given” nor an arrested structure, it is linked to heterogeneous conceptual fields and to the ambiguity of the concept itself. From an epistemological perspective, fiction is not a homogeneous concept. The detour via the philosophical tradition is essential to distinguish different “models” and define the logic of each type of fiction.