Death Drive in Lacan (6): Two forms of life, two forms of death

As we move to Lacan’s idea of ’between the two deaths’, we draw inspiration from Alenka Zupancic’s (2017) assertion that “the death rive cannot be thought in terms of the simple opposition between life and death, because it is precisely what belies this opposition and reconfigures it in the first place“. We recapitulate some key themes, suggesting that more than a simple opposition between life and death we need to grasp a type of internal division that occurs within both concepts of life and death. Hence the distinction between symbolic mortification and ’real’ (physical) death on the one hand, and that between ’life in excess of life’ (ideas of the libidinal animation of jouissance) and ’real’ (physical) life on the other. Our conclusion? The death drive does not in itself attain ontological status, but is rather the result of ontological incompleteness of both life and death.