Conclusion: Toward a New Erotics—Foucault with

Chapter 7, “Towards a New Erotics”, reflects on the juncture in which each thinker approaches the question of subjectivity not in terms of who we must be, but how we might live in the world without the supposition of a fundamental or unproblematic identity, or where it becomes the object of analysis. I examine erotic experience through the lens of an affective encounter, highlighting the Imaginary dimension in which the relationship between analyst and analysand unfolds in the analytic situation. Drawing on Seminar VIII: Transference (1960–62), I introduce Lacan’s claim that transference manifests itself as a love of knowledge, reflecting on how the Analyst embodies the address for love through an engagement with the Real. Shifting the discussion to Foucault’s analysis of Plato’s Socratic dialogues, I consider two erotic domains (‘care’ and ‘psychagogy’) in which philosophy is understood not as a form of knowledge dependent on the Master’s reason, but rather a certain style of discourse that aims at transforming both the speaker and the listener. Chapter 7 concludes with a reflection on my own subjective encounter with Lacan and Foucault as erotic thinkers and the way in which the eros of their thought can be linked to ethical experience.