The Lacanian Teacher: Education, Pedagogy and Enjoyment

by Nick Stock, Nick Peim

Overview

What does it mean to be a Lacanian teacher? This book responds through three avenues: what Lacan had to say about teaching, how Lacan taught his seminars, and what his theoretical ideas might have to say about teaching in general. The authors propose a rethinking of the teacher, the relationship between teacher and their fantasmatic educational landscape, a deconstruction of pedagogy, and a consideration of the teacher's enjoyment. An original understanding of the ontological dimension of education is proposed, along with an account of the implications this has for the thinking and being of a teacher.

This book represents a valuable addition to the emerging body of Lacanian critical work in education and offers fresh insights for practitioners and scholars in the fields of education and psychoanalysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783031930188
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	07/13/2025
Series:	The Palgrave Lacan Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	439 KB

About the Author

Dr Nick Stock is a British Academy Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK. He was an English teacher for thirteen years before starting his current research, which explores the unconscious desires of teachers. His work uses psychoanalytic theory, poststructuralist philosophy, literature, radical politics and theories of educational alternatives. 

Dr Nick Peim lectured Education, ITT and research philosophy at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has taught and written about cultural and curriculum politics, about education as governance, research theory and philosophy. Recent publications include Rethinking the Politics of Education (2022) and A Critique of Pure Education (2024).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Approaching Education with Lacan.- Chapter 2: The Teacher.- Chapter 3: Fantasies of Teaching.- Chapter 4: On the Structures of Pedagogy.- Chapter 5: The Impossibility of Pedagogical Alternatives.- Chapter 6: The Jouissance of Teaching.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This book is one of the rare and compelling attempts to think through the notion of the “Lacanian teacher”—both within the broader field of educational practice and the more specific practice of teaching. The question “What does it mean to be a teacher?” is posed here with a groundbreaking and deeply rewarding audacity.” (Alenka Zupančič, Professor, Institute of Philosophy, Ljubljana)

“An uncanny book that lays bare the impossibility of education—not as a failure, but as its very condition. I love it.” (Julie Reshe, Visiting Professor, University College Cork, Ireland)