Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2019

Wittgenstein and Lacan at the Limit

Meaning and Astonishment

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Brings Wittgenstein and Lacan together for the first time

  • Examines astonishment in relation to the difficulty of expression

  • Explores ones own involvement with meaning

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
  2. Introduction

    • Maria Balaska
    Pages 1-14
  3. The Expression of Astonishment

    • Maria Balaska
    Pages 15-31
  4. Groundlessness in the Tractatus

    • Maria Balaska
    Pages 33-65
  5. Conclusion

    • Maria Balaska
    Pages 163-166
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 167-171

About this book

This book brings together the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Jacques Lacan around their treatments of ‘astonishment,’ an experience of being struck by something that appears to be extraordinarily significant. Both thinkers have a central interest in the dissatisfaction with meaning that these experiences generate when we attempt to articulate them, to bring language to bear on them. Maria Balaska argues that this frustration and difficulty with meaning reveals a more fundamental characteristic of our sense-making capacities –namely, their groundlessness. Instead of disappointment with language’s sense-making capacities, Balaska argues that Wittgenstein and Lacan can help us find in this revelation of meaning’s groundlessness an opportunity to acknowledge our own involvement in meaning, to creatively participate in it and thereby to enrich our forms of life with language.


Reviews

“Maria Balaska’s book suggests an original and surprising pairing of Wittgenstein and Lacan by way of their common concern with the experience of astonishment. Balaska’s rich, sensitive and historically informed analysis of this affective state, convincingly supports her argument for its pertinence to the understanding of the ethical point of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus. This insightful book offers a rewarding discussion of the evaluative dimension of language.” (Eli Friedlander, Laura Schwarz-Kipp Professor of Modern Philosophy, Tel Aviv University, Israel)

“This profound and beautiful book seeks out the general significance of the moments when our difficulty to make sense is a function of our difficulty to make sense of reality as such, and delves into our temptation to deflect each of them, whether through trivialization or sublimation. It charts the unexplored territory of the affinities between Wittgenstein and Lacan with unparalleled thoroughness, cogency, and clarity.” (Jean-Philippe Narboux, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France)

 

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, UK

    Maria Balaska

About the author

Maria Balaska is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Wittgenstein and Lacan at the Limit

  • Book Subtitle: Meaning and Astonishment

  • Authors: Maria Balaska

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16939-8

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-16938-1Published: 19 June 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-16941-1Published: 14 August 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-16939-8Published: 11 June 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 171

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Philosophy of Language, Ethics, Analytic Philosophy, Aesthetics

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access