To celebrate our upcoming LIVE RU podcast with Alenka Zupančič and Todd McGowan THIS MONDAY, December 8th, I am sharing this archival episode with Todd – RU14: PROFESSOR TODD MCGOWAN ON PSYCHOANALYSIS & PHILOSOPHY
All paid subscribers at Rendering Unconscious Podcast and RU Center for Psychoanalysis are welcome to attend our FIRST LIVE RU Podcast event on Monday! ZOOM LINK below paywall.
We will be meeting Monday, December 8 for 90 minutes beginning at 6PM Stockholm (9AM San Francisco | 12PM NYC | 5PM London | 19:00 Beirut). There will be plenty of time for Q&A/discussion with Alenka and Todd. More info HERE.
See you then!
Rendering Unconscious episode 14.
In this episode, Todd McGowan explores the relationship between psychoanalysis and philosophy, particularly Lacan’s evolving Hegelian perspective. Todd discusses how Lacan initially saw himself as Hegelian but later moved towards a more authentic Hegelian view, emphasizing the failure of mutual recognition. He also delves into the importance of contradiction in both Hegel’s and Freud’s thought, and how psychoanalysis can provide a new lens for understanding Hegel. Additionally, he discusses the role of contradiction in identity politics, the limitations of Marxist politics, and the eroticization of bio power in contemporary society.
Todd McGowan teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. He is the author of many books, including The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Lacan (2025) Emancipation after Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution (2019), Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy (2017), Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets (2016), Contemporary Film Directors: Spike Lee (2014), The Fictional Christopher Nolan (2013), Enjoying What We Don’t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis (2013), The Real Gaze: Film Theory After Lacan (2007), and The Impossible David Lynch (2007).
Dr. McGowan contributed a chapter “The sex in their violence: eroticizing biopower” to the anthology On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives (Routledge, 2019) edited by Vanessa Sinclair and Manya Steinkoler.
This episode was original published on January 14, 2019.
