Well, I suppose I should
tell you how I became
the head of philosophy...
at the University of Austin.
Come on. Think.
I want you to reach back into
those minds and tell me, tell us all...
What is it that
you fantasize about?
World peace?
I thought so.
- Do you fantasize about
international fame?
Do you fantasize about
winning a Pulitzer Prize?
Or a Nobel Peace Prize?
- An MTV Music Award?
Do you fantasize about meeting
some genius hunk, ostensibly bad...
but secretly simmering
with noble passion...
- and willing to sleep
on the wet spot?
- I'll take two! I'll take two!
- What was that?
Kimberly will take two.
You get Lacan's point.
Fantasies have to be unrealistic...
because the moment... the second...
that you get what you seek...
you don't...
you can't want it anymore.
In order to continue to exist...
desire must have its objects
perpetually absent.
It's not the "it" that you want.
It's the fantasy of"it."
- So, desire supports crazy fantasies.
Sorry.
This is what Pascal means when he says
that we are only truly happy...
when daydreaming
about future happiness.
- It came today.
- Or why we say...
the hunt is sweeter
than the kill.
Or be careful what you wish for,
not because you'll get it...
but because you're doomed
not to want it once you do.
So the lesson of Lacan is,
living by your wants
will never make you happy.
What it means to be fully human is
to strive to live by ideas and ideals...
and not to measure your life
by what you've attained
in terms of your desires...
but those small moments
of integrity, compassion...
rationality, even self-sacrifice.
Because in the end, the only way
that we can measure the
significance of our own lives...
is by valuing the lives of others.
All right.
I'll see you all on Monday.
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