Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

224270

Melancholy objects

if stones were Lacanian

Timothy Morton

pp. 193-209

Abstract

I keep up with research on schizophrenia because my brother Steve has it. (Hence, reading Deleuze and Guattari is always a little strange for me, shall we say.) One hypothesis is that a neurotoxin released by toxoplasmosis gives rise to symptoms of schizophrenia and possibly Alzheimer's. Toxoplasmosis is caused by Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan symbiont that lives in most people's brains harmlessly. Cats are common hosts, and cat poop contains a lot of the protozoans. One theory is that cat poop near to pregnant humans is a way for the symbiont to jump. One in five of us humans carry the symbiont.

Publication details

Published in:

Matviyenko Svitlana, Roof Judith (2018) Lacan and the posthuman. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 193-209

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-76327-9_11

Full citation:

Morton Timothy (2018) „Melancholy objects: if stones were Lacanian“, In: S. Matviyenko & J. Roof (eds.), Lacan and the posthuman, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 193–209.