the kind of thing I have heard from Vassar directly is that, in the Lacanian classification of people as psychotic/neurotic/perverted, there are some things to be said in favor of psychotics relative to others, namely, that they have access to the ‘imaginary’ realm that is coherent and scientific (I believe Lacan thinks science is imaginary/psychotic, as it is based on symmetries). however, Lacanian psychosis has the disadvantage that people can catastrophize about ways society is bad.
more specifically, Vassar says, Lacanian neurotics tend to deny oppressive power structures, psychotics tend to acknowledge them and catastrophize about them, and perverts tend to acknowledge and endorse them; under this schema, it seems things could be said in favor of and against all three types.
this raises the question of how much normal (non-expert) and psychiatric concepts of psychosis have to do with the Lacanian model which relates to factors like how much influence Lacan has had on psychiatry. I asked Vassar about this and he said that ‘delusions’ (a standard symptom of psychosis) can be a positive sign because when people form actual beliefs they tend to be wrong (this accords with, for example, Popperian philosophy of science, as specific theories are in general ‘wrong’ even if useful; see also, ‘all models are wrong, some models of useful’)
overall I think further specifying the degree to which anyone is ‘encouraging psychosis’, or the ethics of value judgments on psychosis, would in general require having a more specific definition/notion of psychosis, and the sort of ‘dramatic’ relation people in threads such as this have to psychosis (i.e. moral panics about it) is contra such specificity in definition, therefore, lacks requisite precision for well-informed judgments.
the kind of thing I have heard from Vassar directly is that, in the Lacanian classification of people as psychotic/neurotic/perverted, there are some things to be said in favor of psychotics relative to others, namely, that they have access to the ‘imaginary’ realm that is coherent and scientific (I believe Lacan thinks science is imaginary/psychotic, as it is based on symmetries). however, Lacanian psychosis has the disadvantage that people can catastrophize about ways society is bad.
more specifically, Vassar says, Lacanian neurotics tend to deny oppressive power structures, psychotics tend to acknowledge them and catastrophize about them, and perverts tend to acknowledge and endorse them; under this schema, it seems things could be said in favor of and against all three types.
this raises the question of how much normal (non-expert) and psychiatric concepts of psychosis have to do with the Lacanian model which relates to factors like how much influence Lacan has had on psychiatry. I asked Vassar about this and he said that ‘delusions’ (a standard symptom of psychosis) can be a positive sign because when people form actual beliefs they tend to be wrong (this accords with, for example, Popperian philosophy of science, as specific theories are in general ‘wrong’ even if useful; see also, ‘all models are wrong, some models of useful’)
overall I think further specifying the degree to which anyone is ‘encouraging psychosis’, or the ethics of value judgments on psychosis, would in general require having a more specific definition/notion of psychosis, and the sort of ‘dramatic’ relation people in threads such as this have to psychosis (i.e. moral panics about it) is contra such specificity in definition, therefore, lacks requisite precision for well-informed judgments.