Alex Fox
04/01/14
STSS 4965
Annotation 5: Psychoanalysis and Education
1. Full Citation of the article.
Felman, Shoshana. “Psychoanalysis and Education: Teaching Terminable and Interminable.” Yale
French Studies, 1982, 21–44.
2. Author’s location, back ground, and expertise.
Shoshana Felman is currently the Professor of French and Italian at Emory University. She has
many publications and novels over a long period of time stretching from 1971 to 2007. The topics of
these publications range from French and English literature, literature and psychoanalysis, literature and
philosophy, psychoanalysis and education, and many others.
http://french.emory.edu/people/felman.html
3. Details or examples from the text that point to something important about culture, education and/or
the challenge of environmental sustainability in the United States.
The whole text revolves around what psychoanalysis can teach about pedagogy and education.
Through the analysis of psychoanalysis and the teachings of psychoanalysis from Freud and Lacan,
Felman reaches conclusions that can be useful in pedagogy and education. One conclusion outlined in
this paper that can be beneficial to education is the existence of unconscious knowledge that cannot be
completely known by the subject and its contradiction to the idea of absolute knowledge which is
central to western education. Absolute knowledge is the endpoint of knowledge where one has learned
all there is to know but the existence of unconscious knowledge contradicts this idea since there exists
unknown, inaccessible knowledge that you may never know. This means that it is not possible to ever
reach the point of absolute knowledge. Along with knowledge is it’s supposed opposite, ignorance but in
this context it is not necessarily the opposite of knowledge. In this context ignorance is associated with
that that is not remembered and exists in the unconscious or in some cases the refusal of information.
This aspect of ignorance is especially important in education. If a student does not have a desire for
knowledge or does not see a connection to their own lives, then the students may “refuse” the
information and ignore the information being presented to them. The understanding of why this refusal
of knowledge occurs or when could be very helpful to education and these are the questions that Lacan
sought to answer. The analysis of these questions by Lacan puts forth the idea that education is not
merely the communication of information to students but the “creation of a new condition of
knowledge”. The teacher needs to create the environment and the situation where it is possible for the
students to learn, where students do not resist the information.
A final conclusion within the text that can be important to education is the relationship between
the analyst and the analysand which can be compared to the relationship between the teacher and the
student. The student look to the teacher to be all knowing but the teacher does not know all and their
knowledge will always be evolving. One way that their knowledge may be evolving is by the
observations of their teaching to their students. By looking into their lesson plans through what their
students learn or do not learn they can gain further understanding as to how to improve their teaching.
4. Three quotes that capture the critical import of the text.
“If Lacan is, as I would argue, Freud’s best student – that is, the most radical effect of the
insights of Freud’s teaching – perhaps his teaching practice might give us a clue to the newness of the
psychoanalytic lesson about lessons, and help us define both the actual and, more importantly, the
potential contribution of psychoanalysis to pedagogy.”
“Pedagogy in psychoanalysis is thus not just a theme: it is rhetoric. It is not just a statement: it is
an utterance. It is not just a meaning: it is an action; an action which itself may very well, at times, belie
the stated meaning, the didactic thesis, the theoretical assertion. It is essential to become aware of this
complexity of the relationship of pedagogy and psychoanalysis, in order to begin to think out hat the
psychoanalysis teaching about teaching might well be.”
“Like the analyst, the teacher, in Lacan’s eyes, cannot in turn be, alone, a master of the
knowledge which he teaches. Lacan transposes the radicality of analytic dialogue – as a newly
understood structure of insight – into the pedagogical situation. This is not simply to say that he
encourages ‘exchange’ and calls for students’ interventions – as many other teachers do. Much more
profoundly, and radically, he attempts to learn the students his own knowledge.”
5. What is the main argument of the text?
The text focuses on the relationship between psychoanalysis and pedagogy. The text analyses
Freud and Lacan’s teachings of psychoanalysis to find underlying meanings that connect to pedagogy
and education. Freud states that he does not intend for his teachings of psychoanalysis to relate to
pedagogy, which he sees as impossible, but Felman ignores Freud’s statement that there is not a
relation to education and looks beneath the surface of his teachings to find connections.
6. Describe at least three ways the main argument is supported.
The first way that the argument is supported is by an analysis of Freud’s teaching of
psychoanalysis and his idea of the unconscious. Freud believes that there is knowledge that we are
aware of that is part of our conscious mind but that there is also a part of our mind that we are unaware
of that can hold knowledge. Felman goes on to explain the meaning of knowledge and ignorance in this
context and how it relates to education. Ignorance in this context can be defined as the refusal of
knowledge, which can be important to education and educators. Educators understanding this refusal of
knowledge and paying attention to what their students retain and what they don’t can be beneficial
knowledge of the educator. They can use this knowledge to reflect upon why the student refused the
knowledge and how they can modify their teaching style to ensure the students is more engaged.
Felman takes this argument further making claim, based off of Freud’s idea of subconscious,
knowledge and ignorance, that teaching is not just a “transmission of ready-made knowledge, it is rather
the creation of a new condition of knowledge”. What is meant by condition of knowledge is an
environment where it is possible for students to learn the intended content. This would go along with
teachers learning from what their students are able to retain and what they do not learn. If they are not
retaining pertinent information then the learning conditions probably are not suitable for the content.
Another connection the Felman makes between Freud, Lacan and pedagogy is by comparing the
relation between the analyst and the analysand to the teacher and the student. Within the relationship
between the analyst and the analysand the analyst is not all knowing and their knowledge is always
evolving. One way that their knowledge evolves and changes is learning through the analysand. The
analyst becomes a “student of the patient’s knowledge”. There is knowledge that exists in the
relationship between the analyst and analysand because they both hold unknown information in their
subconscious that is revealed and adds to their collective knowledge. Just as the analyst, the teacher
does not hold all knowledge. They too can learn from their relationships and experiences with students.
Teachers from theirs students can attempt to “learn from the students his own knowledge”, by looking
into their understanding and their lack of intended knowledge.
7. What parts of the argument did you find most and least persuasive.
Since the time of Freud, many psychologist and those that work within the field have disagreed
with his beliefs of the unconscious and the importance of dreams as a tool to see into ones
subconscious. Many of the arguments made within the paper base off of theories by Freud that
incorporate this widely disapproved theory. This makes some of these arguments slightly tainted,
especially the idea of subconscious and ignorance.
The most persuasive argument made is the comparison between the analyst and the analysand
to the teacher and the student. It makes sense that the teacher learns from the student and their
experiences with students. The only way to improve teaching skills and understand what works and
what does not is to reflect on the students learning and their knowledge.
8. What kinds of corrective action are suggested by the text (over or implied)?
I think the main corrective action that can be taken by teachers is becoming aware of the fact
that they can learn from their students. If the teacher becomes aware of this fact, pays attention to the
knowledge that their students are retaining or not retaining, and analyses why this might be to take
action and make their teaching style better. They can then take what they have learned to adjust the
curriculum so the ability for their students to learn is at its peak.
9. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text relates to our effort to conceptualize, design and
deliver EcoEd.
The idea within the text that teachers are not only teachers but students as well who are
learning from those they are teaching is exactly what we are doing in the EcoEd program. We ourselves
are students, learning from our professors and attempting to apply this knowledge to our teaching of
those at Tamarac or in the research programs. At the same time, we are attempting to take our
experiences working with these students to further our knowledge about education. The structure of
the EcoEd program is built to reach this goal; to get those of different knowledge levels and ages
working together, learning from each other.
10. What additional information has this text compelled you to seek out?
This text made me wonder about the other works that Shoshana Felman has published. I looked
for what Felman’s most known or influential work has been and came across her novel Writing and
Madness. This novel also deals with psychoanalysis but its relation to literature and philosophy rather
than education. It explores literature and what it has to say about what culture includes under the label
of madness.