The Not-yet and the Always-already : Psychoanalysis, Hegel and the Dialectics of Anticipation

This paper addresses the role of anticipative and retroactive processes in the constitution of the human subject, taking as a guide the psychoanalytical concept of Nachträglichkeit. Firstly, this concept is situated within the Freudian account of psychic temporality. Secondly, it is shown how Lacan applies the concept to the becoming of the subject through language. To illustrate this process, a simplified version of Lacan's "Graph of Desire" is used. Thirdly, a metaphysical counterpart to the principle of Nachträglichkeit is described, the dialectical principle of "tarrying with the negative", as formulated by G. W. F. Hegel.