The Real Grounds of Causal Relations: Between Kant and Lacan

Jacques Lacan refers in his XI’s seminar to Kant’s early essay on “Negative Magnitudes” (1763), suggesting that in this essay, Kant challenges the concept of cause as later addressed in the transcendental project. Kant’s early conception of cause cannot be overshadowed by his later thought. According to Lacan’s reading, the essay on Negative Magnitudes shows cause as an unanalyzable concept, as introducing an irreducible gap into the relation between ground and consequence. This article aimed to examine the productivity of the notion of cause as an unanalyzable gap to our understanding of concepts. The article first focuses on Kant’s essay and his concept of cause and specifies how it triggered Lacan into suggesting this idea. The article secondly traces Lacan’s motivation in addressing Kant’s essay as a key to understanding the notion of cause in psychoanalysis. Third, the article establishes the productivity of this notion of cause for the psychoanalytic understanding of psychic reality.