The trace of the unconscious
One of the concept in Derrida’s work is the concept of the trace. I’m not sure that I understand the concept of the trace. (I’m somewhat more sure that other people who I speak with on a regular basis don’t understand the concept of the trace either.)
Be that as it may, I’m going to jot down a few things about the trace that have been on my mind as of late.
Describing the trace:
The term trace in French has a different resonance than it does in English. In French, the term seems to mean mean marked by, as in “There is a trace of trauma in everything that is done after the trauma has been endured.”
In this way the trace might go along with Derrida’s ideas of an absent-presence/present-absence, which can also be seen as a specter that haunts.
The trace of the unconscious:
What I’m becoming more and more interested in is the trace of the unconscious on the different things and stuff that people say and/or write.
- In regards to patients I think speech is what I’m more interested in.
- In regards to students I’d say writing is what I’m more interested in.
My own idea of the unconscious is that it is a place where our repressed (but not destroyed) desires reside, and a a result the unconscious is always-already undermining (i.e. haunting) much of what we consciously are doing.
