La leçon du paradigme

The author presents several debates raised by the notion of “paradigm” from Georges Lantéri-Laura, for the historiography of psychiatry. He tries to formulate what could be the presupposition of the notion: under appearances of plurality, there might be a united psychiatric discourse. A review of these critics can help to understand the reluctance of psychoanalysis in using the paradigm. Canguilhem warned the historian never to confuse the object of a history of sciences and the object of a science, unity of the discourse and unicity of the object. The construction of the notion of Paradigm brings an elegant solution in order to respect their interval. Though, it has a cost: the circularity of its construction seems to elude the division of an historical discourse, the very interval designed by the French philosopher. The Lesson of Paradigm in history of psychiatry proves but one thing: its logic produces its own loss, and its remnant is the very object of a psychoanalytical historiography.