Revista de Psicanálise

50the oppressive imposition of oral satisfactions by the Other. This points to the ethical dimension ofanorexia, in so far as sustaining one’s desire represents the assumption of an ethical position.When bulimia is considered in its original meaning of binge eating, the position of thesubject is opposed to that of the anorexic. The bulimic subject surrenders to the Other, who fills himwith food, and the subject crushes his own desire with oral satisfaction.Bulimia nervosa, that is, bulimia followed by purging, or vomiting, is half way betweenbulimia in the old sense of the term and anorexia, to represent the subject’s attempt at restoring thecapacity to affirm his desire.As an ethical stance, anorexia is more on the side of moralism than of ethics, and thetransference relation that evolves in cases of anorexia reflects a peculiar sense of moral superiorityon the part of the subject. But as analysts we cannot dismiss anorectic morality as flawed ethics. Weare rather interested in helping the patient to critically examine her subjective position, so that shecan learn from it and at the same time respect her own living body and, perhaps, the dignity ofeating and food and their place among human creations in the arts, the sciences and gastronomy.ReferenceASSOUN, P.-L. (2009), Corps et symptôme. Paris, Anthropos.FREUD, S. (1893c), Some Points for a Comparative Study of Organic and Hysterical Motor Paralyses. SE I p.157.FREUD, S. (1900a), The Interpretation of Dreams. SE IV and V.FREUD, S. (1905d), Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. SE VII p. 125.FREUD. S. (1905e), Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. SE VII p. 3.FREUD, S. (1915-1916), Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. SE XV and XVI.FREUD, S. (1930a), Civilization and its Discontents. SE XXI p. 59.LACAN, J. (1977), The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis [Seminar XI, 1964].London: Tavistock.LACAN, J. (1992), The Seminar, Book VII, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-1960. New York, Norton; London,Routledge.LACAN, J. (1998), The Seminar, Book XX, Encore [1972-1973], On Feminine Sexuality: The Limits of Love andKnowledge. New York and London, Norton.LACAN, J. (2006), Écrits (trans. B. Fink with H. Fink and R. Grigg). New York and London, Norton.RODRÍGUEZ, L. (2009), To eat or not to eat. Paper presented at the Conference on Eating Disorders organized by theCFAR (Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research), London, 4 July 2009.SOLER, C. (2003), L’en-corps du sujet. Course of 2001-2002, Collège clinique de Paris, Formation clinique du Champlacanien, Paris. Transcript.