In The Logic of Sexuation in Deleuze and Lacan, I argue for an account of sexual difference that responds to a tension in feminist philosophy, namely, the problem of the ontological status of the sexed body. In so doing, I turn to the work of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Lacan. I argue that, rather than being antithetical, the two can be productively read together, in particular with regard to this very question. Ultimately basing my reading in the Deleuzian passive syntheses and dynamic geneses of Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense as well as in Lacan’s twentieth Seminar on sexuation with respect to the phallic function, I argue that we should see sexual difference as a kind of generative void that propels the subject forward in its perpetual processes of becoming. Thus we get a materialist but non-reductive account of sexual difference or sexuation as a kind of back-turning relation of thought and the body in a constitutively incomplete interplay.
","abstract_html":"<p>In <em>The Logic of Sexuation in Deleuze and Lacan</em>, I argue for an account of sexual difference that responds to a tension in feminist philosophy, namely, the problem of the ontological status of the sexed body. In so doing, I turn to the work of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Lacan. I argue that, rather than being antithetical, the two can be productively read together, in particular with regard to this very question. Ultimately basing my reading in the Deleuzian passive syntheses and dynamic geneses of <em>Difference and Repetition </em>and <em>The Logic of Sense </em>as well as in Lacan’s twentieth Seminar on sexuation with respect to the phallic function, I argue that we should see sexual difference as a kind of generative void that propels the subject forward in its perpetual processes of becoming. Thus we get a materialist but non-reductive account of sexual difference or sexuation as a kind of back-turning relation of thought and the body in a constitutively incomplete interplay.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lovett, Matthew"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"One-year Embargo","degree_discipline":"Philosophy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Daniel Selcer","Tom Eyers","Claire Colebrook"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-05-11T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-05-11T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:09:20Z","subjects":["Deleuze","Lacan","Sexual Difference","Feminist Theory","Psychoanalysis","Continental Philosophy","Gender Studies","Sexuation","Feminist Philosophy","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Other Psychiatry and Psychology","Women's Studies"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1418","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Daniel Selcer","Tom Eyers","Claire Colebrook"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lovett, Matthew"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-05-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["One-year Embargo"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Deleuze","Lacan","Sexual Difference","Feminist Theory","Psychoanalysis","Continental Philosophy","Gender Studies","Sexuation","Feminist Philosophy","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Other Psychiatry and Psychology","Women's Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1418"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In The Logic of Sexuation in Deleuze and Lacan, I argue for an account of sexual difference that responds to a tension in feminist philosophy, namely, the problem of the ontological status of the sexed body. In so doing, I turn to the work of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Lacan. I argue that, rather than being antithetical, the two can be productively read together, in particular with regard to this very question. Ultimately basing my reading in the Deleuzian passive syntheses and dynamic geneses of Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense as well as in Lacan’s twentieth Seminar on sexuation with respect to the phallic function, I argue that we should see sexual difference as a kind of generative void that propels the subject forward in its perpetual processes of becoming. Thus we get a materialist but non-reductive account of sexual difference or sexuation as a kind of back-turning relation of thought and the body in a constitutively incomplete interplay.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Logic of Sexuation in Deleuze and Lacan"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Daniel Selcer","Tom Eyers","Claire Colebrook"],"dc:creator":["Lovett, Matthew"],"dc:date.available":["2019-05-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In The Logic of Sexuation in Deleuze and Lacan, I argue for an account of sexual difference that responds to a tension in feminist philosophy, namely, the problem of the ontological status of the sexed body. In so doing, I turn to the work of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Lacan. I argue that, rather than being antithetical, the two can be productively read together, in particular with regard to this very question. Ultimately basing my reading in the Deleuzian passive syntheses and dynamic geneses of Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense as well as in Lacan’s twentieth Seminar on sexuation with respect to the phallic function, I argue that we should see sexual difference as a kind of generative void that propels the subject forward in its perpetual processes of becoming. Thus we get a materialist but non-reductive account of sexual difference or sexuation as a kind of back-turning relation of thought and the body in a constitutively incomplete interplay.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1418"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["Deleuze","Lacan","Sexual Difference","Feminist Theory","Psychoanalysis","Continental Philosophy","Gender Studies","Sexuation","Feminist Philosophy","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Other Psychiatry and Psychology","Women's Studies"],"dc:title":["The Logic of Sexuation in Deleuze and Lacan"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Philosophy"],"thesis:degree_level":["One-year Embargo"],"thesis:degree_name":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:09:20Z"}