Mathemathics and psychoanalysis meet in the book “À l’ombre de Grothendieck et de Lacan”

Mathematician Alain Connes and psychoanalyst Patrick Gauthier-Lafaye have just co-written the book “À l’ombre de Grothendieck et de Lacan“, published last May in French by Editions Odile Jacob.

The book was born from the encounter between the two authors, who met just a few years ago in Cérisy-la-Salle, and it imagines a possible meeting between two of the most emblematic minds of the 20th century, who revolutionized their respective fields: Alexandre Grothendieck and Jacques Lacan. More precisely, the two authors present a point of contact between the theory of topos developed by Grothendieck and the concept of the unconscious as described by Lacan.

Alain Connes, professor at Collège de France, member of the Académie des Sciences, holder of the Léon Motchane Chair at IHES and Fields Medalist, explains that it all began when Patrick Gauthier-Lafaye, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, showed him a diagram presented by Lacan in one of his famous seminars.

It was by overcoming an initial mistrust of what at first looked like incomprehensible signs, and by following through on his intuition, that the mathematician was able to find a possible solution in the intuitionist logic and the theory of topos.

The two authors will participate, with Marc Darmon and Bernard Vandermersch, in a round table discussion about the book on Saturday, November 19, 2022 at the ALI, 25 rue de Lille in Paris.

 

For more information: https://mathinees-lacaniennes.net/fr/