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The grotesque knot of the symptom: Heterogeneity and mutability

  • Rahman Veisi Hasar EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: February 15, 2020

Abstract

The present paper aims to shed light on some post-oedipal moments of the Freudian-Lacanian psychoanalysis. Going beyond the stereotypical opposition between the oedipal psychoanalysis and the anti-oedipal schizoanalysis, it endeavors to reinvestigate the semiotic nature of the knotenpunkt and the sinthome by applying some Deleuzian and Bakhtinian concepts. Thus, the knotenpunkt is described as a grotesque knot bringing together some heterogeneous elements. The involved disparate components establish a rhizomatic multiplicity irreducible to a common determiner. As far as the sinthome is concerned, it is also illustrated as a grotesque knot quilting the disseminated heterogeneous orders. In contrast to the dominant conception of the symptom with a complex mode of signifying (that is mainly bound to the oedipal topography), the knotenpunkt and the sinthome hold a kind of hyper-formative mode of signifying. As a result, the latter may be regarded as pure formators irreducible to a meaning or a certain interpretation. Finally, the paper sets out to analyze and evaluate the relationship between the sinthome and the foreclosure from a semiotic perspective. Accordingly, the sinthome is explained as a reply to foreclosure which is specifically a perceptive-imperative (retroactive) contemplation (in the light of law according to the Peircean phaneroscopy) on the rhizomatic multiplicity of psychosis (the case of schizophrenia).

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Published Online: 2020-02-15
Published in Print: 2020-03-26

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