HISTORY

The signifier "school" (école) appeared in the history of the analytical movement in 1964 with the foundation by Jacques Lacan of the Ecole freudienne de Paris . "It is to be understood in the antiquity sense of the term which meant certain refuge places, indeed operation bases against what could already be called discontent in civilisation. Confining ourselves to discontent within psychoanalysis, the School does not intend to limit its field merely to a work of criticism : but to the opening up of the foundation of experience and to the questioning of the style of life onto which it emerges." (Jacques Lacan, "Préambule" of the "Acte de fondation" of the E.F.P.).

In conformity with the law of the signifier, this signifier "school" differed from itself from the moment of the "Proposition of October 9th on the School psychoanalyst" and the setting up of the experience of the pass at the Ecole freudienne de Paris. The signifier undoubtedly differed again with the dissolution of this School in 1980.

THE SIGNIFIER "SCHOOL" (ECOLE)

The introduction of the signifier "school" in the psychoanalytical field is in answer to an established fact : the structure of artificial groups (künstliche Massen), of which collectives are customarily constituted, is not appropriate to accommodate the analytical group : their ego-consistence rules out any implication of the subject, and the one-more (visible or invisible leader), who, as common love object, sets up and guarantees the existence of the group, occults the knowledge proceeding from the analytical cure. Freud shows in his Massenpsychologie that the functioning of these groups is similar to that of hypnosis which, when he abandoned, allowed him to discover the field of the unconscious.

Under what conditions could an association have a function other than mutual assistance against the analytical discourse ?

What collective structures are capable of not disavowing the real at stake in psychoanalysis ? The answer which the school represents designates this real as being the origin of the analyst's training.

Lacan proposed two forms of school training : the cartels and the pass procedure. The structure of the cartels is not opposed to the effects of the subject, and their spinning force creates work links among the School members which subvert the master-pupil relationship which is at the root of the university discourse ; the set-up of the pass nominates the School Analysts, a nomination carried out through a knotting of three distinct subjective positions (passand, passeur and jury),which is a nomination of the real, where the analyst operates, and not a nomination to a psychoanalytical function.

The Ecole de psychanalyse Sigmund Freud was formed in May 1994, 30 years after the foundation of the Ecole freudienne de Paris. Three schools developed in France following the dissolution of this first school : the Ecole de la Cause freudienne , the Ecole freudienne and the Ecole lacanienne de psychanalyse. The Ecole de psychanalyse Sigmund Freud is situated in a third period.

The real is present in the pass from psychoanalysand to psychoanalyst, and this real is precisely what a school sets out not to disavow in its training. For recognizable historical reasons, this real was specified with the qualifier "Freudian" or "Lacanian" by the first two generations of schools. To use a name as an adjective has effects : the real, which this name only stands instead of, thereafter takes on the significations of the qualifier for the designated school.

We have tried to learn from the experiences of the first two generations of schools in considering that, at this moment, which is ours, in the history of the analytical movement, we can sustain the real of the experience which firmly establishes the works of Freud and Lacan and the resulting theoretical elaborations and writings. We must therefore confront the real which the name of psychoanalysis brings into play, a real which, as such, "ex-sists" over and above any quality or signification. Our school is therefore Ecole de psychanalyse, which acknowledges Sigmund Freud as he who had the privilege of discovering the unconscious and its laws, of naming psychoanalysis and of setting it down in history.

We intend, by this, to emphasise the responsibility of psychoanalysis faced with the discontent of a civilisation marked by the discourse of science and its effects : the suture of the subject and the degeneracy of the function of the name.

THE ASSOCIATIVE LINK

Only a certain type of associative institution is appropriate to form a school. In effect, the pass set-up, which is the core of the School, carries institutional stakes and not every association is capable of supporting the effects of subversion : either it ceases to exist or it rejects these effects. Having drawn inferences from the Proposition of 1967, from the dissolution of the Ecole freudienne de Paris and from our own diverse experiences in associations or schools stemming from this dissolution, our hypothesis is that the methods of power and guarantee functions in the group enable, or not, the latter to support the subversion produced by the pass.

Taking into account the real in the pass and the figure of the supposedly-knowing subject which normally occults it, has led us to distinguish two places for the exercise of institutional power in our statutes, and two modes of instituting authority for each of the corresponding powers. These two modes of institutional power, the power to administer the associative link and the power of authority in the field of psychoanalysis, are generally condensed into the one same place, occupied by the analyst or group of analysts who founded the association and who act as guarantor. In this way the figure of the supposedly-knowing subject is thus restored to the statutes, whereas its destitution is precisely what is at stake at the end of the psychoanalytical cure. This form of instituting an associative link, which disavows what is expected of the cure, is thus not appropriate for the setting-up of a school of psychoanalysis.

The specificity of the Ecole de psychanalyse Sigmund Freud is a division at the place of institutional power and the temporary character of its functions. The general assembly of the members of the School elect the members of the committee, authorising them to see their projects through to a successful conclusion. The authority of the School Analysts' which derives from the real, acknowledged and named by the pass procedure, designates the psychoanalysts who form the Collège de la passe  for two years. As the administrative and the psychoanalytical come under different structural places, the members of the Collège de la passe  are not eligible for the committee. The president's institutional responsibilities are to represent the School and its principles of functioning. He or she is elected amongst the psychoanalysts of the Collège de la passe  and the School Analysts by the general assembly for one year. In this way, the specificity, the primacy and the limits of the analytical are clearly defined in an appropriate place, a place which is both central and off-central in the institution.

We put forward the hypothesis that the associative link, as laid down by our statutes, is able to support the subversion produced by the pass and that an analyst of this formation, faced with the demands of a culture which is ours, is able to uphold his position and what it involves, without losing himself in a cloak of self-sufficiency.

LIFE IN THE SCHOOL

The cardo is in charge of receiving demands addressed to the School.

The cartel is the basic work structure in the School. Each cartel is made up of three to five people, preferably four, plus one other, in charge of the selection, discussion and the decision on the outcome of each person's work. We refer to Lacan's definition of the cartel in l'Acte de fondation of the E.F.P. and assume thereof the responsibility of questioning its grounds and effects.

Each cartel gathers to discuss a text or a theoretical or clinical question ; its time is limited to enable its members to break up and form new cartels with others. Each cartel chooses the rhythm and form of its meetings most appropriate to suit its members.

Discussion periods, focused on a psychoanalytical issue, allow the participants to set forth the point they are at in their work and the difficulties they encounter.

The seminaries and teachings provide a conceptual reference frame, turning towards the reading of psychoanalytical texts, clinical reflection, ideas about crucial problems in psychoanalysis and doctrinal elaboration. They are places open to discussion and exchange between the participants.

The forums gather together around a common project or a research theme in connection with other disciplines.

The encounters, colloquiums and publications allow the School to make its work known to a large public.

THE PSYCHOANALYST

"The analyst authorises of himself and some others". This is a principle of the School. This authorisation finds its coordinates in the analyst's cure, brought to its term. He who takes the step of occupying the place of analyst questions the effects of his practice in supervisions with the analysts of his choice. The School has henceforth not only the responsibility of making clear the twists and turns of the analyst's desire, but also of what could, in fact, prevent the training. Such are the stakes involved in the pass set-up and the nomination of the School Analysts.

The  Collège de la passe  ensures the functioning of the pass set-up and upholds a work of doctrine and teaching. It receives each passand, who draws lots for the two  passeurs  who will testify to his pass, and it forms a cartel for each pass : four members of the Collège , drawn from lots, join with an analyst or a non-analyst, in the Lacanian sense of the term, to set up a cartel in charge of hearing a pass and responding, or not, with a nomination to the title of School Analyst.

Any psychoanalyst of the association can take it upon himself to designate a passeur amongst his analysands, after having talked with a Collège member of his choice. The Collège de la passe has thus the responsibility of ensuring the experience of the pass and each analyst of the association is involved in this experience : the fact that each analyst is capable of participating in the work of a pass cartel, and of possibly designating a passeur amongst his analysands means that psychoanalytical practice becomes clearer.

THE COLLEGE DE LA PASSE 

The Collège de la passe is renewed every two years. Its members are designated by the last named School Analysts.

From 1994 to 2000, the successive Collège members were designated by the sole School Analyst members of the EPSF.

In 2000, the members of the Ecole de psychanalyse Sigmund Freud and the Association pour une école de psychanalyse (renamed, in 2003, La lettre Lacanienne, une école pour la psychanalyse) agreed to establish a knotting of their associations through a shared pass set-up.