THE GRAPH OF DESIRE OF SPACE —A NARRATIVE INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOANALYTIC CARTOGRAPHIES

Abstract

The analysis of desire related to subjectivity is one of the subjects of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis theory is frequently cited by the theorists of design criticism, but there are few works introducing the cartographic tools used in psychoanalysis and the later developed schizoanalysis. This paper makes an intertextual correspondence between the developments of design theory and psychoanalytic cartographies, and proposes its philosophically diagnostic essence and the theoretical promotion from psychoanalysis. It is concluded that the interdisciplinary influence between psychoanalysis or schizoanalysis and design criticism has witnessed over 4 stages—which are also the primary application categories of psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis—including: 1) metaphors in literary criticisms; 2) analytical tools in ontology; 3) genealogical narrative tools in ecology of systems; and 4) synthesis operators for interdisciplinary research. The process from dualism to pluralism and the process from metaphorical representation of mirror to interdisciplinary synthesis operator experienced by psychoanalytic cartographies are consistent with the history of professional discourse and criticism paradigm development, and in fact are an epitome of philosophical theory in the second half of the 20th century. The design theory is also a part of the shift, so the graph of desire could be a way to represent the very discourse of critical history and relevant text. Lastly, possible applications of psychoanalytical and schizoanalytic cartographies in the design theory discourse are proposed.