The human being is the fundamental challenge of any semiotic process

Abstract

In this article, the author invites a crossover between psychoanalysis and semiotics. His experience shows that this crossbreeding is fruitful for both disciplines. He proposes to create a metasemiotic, which is a psychoanalytic semiotic listening to the unconscious. Building on existing methods, such as the semanalysis of Julia Kristeva, and the anasemic deconstruction of Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok, close to the philosophy of Jacques Derrida, the semiotic approach takes into account the five main polarities of the unconscious, namely, the Real, the Imaginary, the Symbolic, the Necessary, and the Sensitive. This new method is attentive to dynamic processes of producing meaning. The concrete implementation of metasemiotics, in particular through the study of contemporary mythologies, brought about different forms of fantasies, depending on whether they are created by the subject himself or imposed by his environment. This discovery is confirmed on a daily basis by the clinical practice of psychoanalysis. It underlines the importance of listening to individual and group specificities, without seeking to replace them by imposing concepts of doctrines or ideologies from the outside. Metasemiotic research confirms the ethical foundation of any hermeneutic approach, by respecting human beings, their unique irreducible subjectivity and their inalienable dignity.