International Lacanian Society
Fostering Lacanian Thought
International Lacanian Society
Welcome to the International Lacanian Society – a worldwide platform devoted to advancing, sharing, and ethically practising Lacanian psychoanalysis. It unites analysts, scholars, clinicians, and students who are exploring the ideas of Jacques Lacan and how they still shape our understanding of the human subject today.
With a strong commitment to deep study, critical engagement, and the ethical foundations of psychoanalytic work, we offer a space for serious inquiry and open dialogue. Whether you’re just beginning or already immersed in the field, the International Lacanian Society gives you access to resources, events, and a global network of people committed to Lacanian thought.
Our Mission
To promote:
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The study of Lacanian theory and its clinical application.
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Public and professional dialogue on psychoanalytic thought.
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An open, and critical approach to psychoanalysis.
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Support for research and case study publication.
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A cross-cultural psychoanalytic exchange.
- Preservation of Lacan’s legacy.
Activities and Opportunities
The International Lacanian Society offers:
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Congresses: Year-round events with speakers sharing diverse perspectives from different countries.
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Cafés: Informal encounters for open discussion on psychoanalytic themes.
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Community Spirit: A shared international space that fosters dialogue, exchange, and belonging.
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Talks: Regular live or pre-recorded lectures on key topics in Lacanian theory and practice.
Our Aim
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Preserve Lacanian foundations.
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Connect psychoanalysts across borders.
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Global reach with intellectual depth.
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Unafraid of complexity, committed to clarity.
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A platform where psychoanalysis speaks, questions, and acts.
The Society in Action
We are proud to be a truly international association – with participants, volunteers, speakers, and contributors from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and beyond. Our work continues across languages, contexts, and disciplines – without borders, but with structure.
The International Lacanian Society hosts a wide range of activities throughout the year. These include online congresses, lectures, talks, and article publications. Each event is designed to create thoughtful engagement with Lacanian concepts in both clinical and theoretical contexts.
Our platform allows Lacanians to share original texts, case studies, and reflections from clinical practice. We encourage writing that is both rigorous and accessible, faithful to Lacanian principles yet unafraid to explore new grounds.
We also provide a free international directory for Lacanians around the globe, offering visibility and connection within the wider community.
Across all our efforts, one thing remains constant: a commitment to serious, ethical, and creative engagement with psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis in Today’s World
Lacan’s work remains essential to understanding the unconscious, the subject, and language in today’s world. In a time when psychological discourse is often reduced to techniques and outcomes; the International Lacanian Society focuses on theory, ethics, and structure – not as rigid dogmas, but as frameworks through which to engage the unconscious. Psychoanalysis is not a quick fix – it is a way of thinking, listening, and responding to what lies beyond appearances.
Today’s psychological culture increasingly treats the human being as something to be managed, optimised, and measured. Emotions are framed as symptoms to be soothed. Behaviour is data to be tracked. Healing is expected to be quick, visible, and measurable. In this climate, psychoanalysis resists. It listens, rather than corrects. It attends to the unconscious rather than the surface. It stays with what cannot be said, what resists integration, and what repeats again and again.
The International Lacanian Society is committed to preserving this act of listening: a form of attention that does not aim to fix but to encounter. An encounter with the subject as split, desiring, and never fully knowable.
This is not nostalgia for complexity – it is a defense of what escapes simplification. Psychoanalysis is not against science or progress. It simply insists that not everything about being human is reducible to calculation or deterministic cause. There is something in the subject that escapes mastery, as psychoanalysis does not conquer the symptom; it listens to its logic, tracing the contours of what cannot be made whole.
And, in Lacanian psychoanalysis, not everything can be explained, fixed, or measured. It reminds us that speech is not always transparent, that the subject is divided, and that meaning is always shifting. In today’s world, that reminder is not just useful – it is essential.