Wittgenstein and Lacan at the Limit: Meaning and Astonishment

Description

This book brings together the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Jacques Lacan around their treatments of ‘astonishment,’ an experience of being struck by something that appears to be extraordinarily significant. Both thinkers have a central interest in the dissatisfaction with meaning that these experiences generate when we attempt to articulate them, to bring language to bear on them. Maria Balaska argues that this frustration and difficulty with meaning reveals a more fundamental characteristic of our sense-making capacities –namely, their groundlessness. Instead of disappointment with language’s sense-making capacities, Balaska argues that Wittgenstein and Lacan can help us find in this revelation of meaning’s groundlessness an opportunity to acknowledge our own involvement in meaning, to creatively participate in it and thereby to enrich our forms of life with language. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction (Maria Balaska)....Pages 1-14 The Expression of Astonishment (Maria Balaska)....Pages 15-31 Groundlessness in the Tractatus (Maria Balaska)....Pages 33-65 The Groundlessness of Meaning in Lacan’s Work (Maria Balaska)....Pages 67-93 From Deflection to Reflection: A Creative Involvement with Language (Maria Balaska)....Pages 95-119 From Groundlessness to Creativity: The Merits of Astonishment for Wittgenstein (Maria Balaska)....Pages 121-140 From Groundlessness to Creativity: The Merits of Astonishment for Lacan (Maria Balaska)....Pages 141-161 Conclusion (Maria Balaska)....Pages 163-166 Back Matter ....Pages 167-171