Interpretation by way of the signifier : a response to Gregory Rizzolo's "The significance of the interpretant in the field of speech"

Abstract

We are grateful for the opportunity to comment on Gregory Rizzolo’s article contrasting Peircean and Lacanian views of speech and the role of countertransference in the communicative process. We make the following remarks in hope of (a) clarifying some Lacanian concepts in relation to Rizzolo’s use of Peirce’s framework and (b) illuminating alternative interventions and clinical conceptualizations on the examples offered by Rizzolo. We believe that such ongoing dialogue between Lacanian and non-Lacanian psychoanalysis is incredibly valuable and productive for elaborating and reflecting on psychoanalytic theory and praxis.