英：knowledge; 法：connaissance/savoir
拉康区分了两种类型的知识：想象性的认识 (connaissance), 即自我的认识，以及象征性的知识 (savoir), 即主体的知识。因为这两个法文术语皆被翻译成了同一个英文单词“knowledge”（知识），所以在阅读拉康的译本时，重要的便是弄清楚拉康在原文中所使用的是哪一个法文单词。
(1)“知识”(savoir)即精神分析治疗所力求达到的那种知识。它既是涉及主体与象征秩序之间关系的知识，同时又是那一关系本身。此种知识完全就是众多能指在主体的象征世界中的链接，即能指链条 (S,)。无意识也只不过是此种象征性知识的别名，因为它是一种“未知的知识”(unknown knowledge), 即一种主体不知道自己知道的知识。精神分析治疗的目的便在于把此种知识渐进地揭示给主体，而它的基本前提也在于，触及此种知识的唯一手段，便是经由某种特殊的言语形式，即所谓的自由联想 (free associ-ation)。然而，精神分析治疗的目的并非针对一种黑格尔式的“绝对知识”(absolute knowledge), 因为无意识是不可化约的；在主体与知识之间存在着一种不可避免的割裂。象征性知识即有关某人无意识欲望的真理的知识。在此种意义上，知识便是一种“享乐”的形式：“知识是大他者的享乐。”(S17,13)象征性知识既不存在于任何特殊的主体，也不存在于大他者 (大他者不是一个主体，而是一个位点)，而是主体间性的。然而，这却并不妨碍我们假设在某处存在着一个拥有此种象征性知识的主体（见：假设知道的主体SUBJECT SUPPOSED TO KNOW])
(2)“认识”(connaissance)(及其必然相关的“误认”[meconnaissance])则属于想象辖域的那种自我认识 (self-knowl-edge)。正是通过误解 (misunderstanding)与误识/误认 (misrecognition/meconnaissance), 主体才得以抵达有关其自身的想象性认识，这种自我认识 (me~connaissance)即自我 (ego)的构成性要素 (E, 306)。因而，自我便是一种虚假的自我认识，其基础在于自主性与统一性的幻想。自我与他人之间也存在着某种“共生”(英：co-birth; 法：co-naissance)(参见克劳岱尔①的格言：“所有出生都是一种共生”[toute naissance est une co-naissance])。想象性认识被拉康称作“偏执狂的认识”(paranoiac knowledge; E, 2), 因为它与偏执狂有着同样的结构（两者皆涉及对于绝对知识与主人性的妄想），而且也因为所有人类认识的先决条件之一，便是“自我的偏执狂异化”(Lacan, 1951b:12)。想象性认识是阻碍主体触及象征性知识的一种障碍。因此，精神分析治疗便必须不断地颠覆主体想象性的自我认识，以便揭示出它所阻碍的象征性的自我知识。
(connaissance/savoir) Lacan distinguishes between two kinds of knowledge: imaginaryknowledge (connaissance) which is knowledge of the ego, and symbolic knowledge (savoir), which is knowledge of the subject. Since both of these French terms aretranslated by the single English word knowledge', it is important, when reading Lacan intranslation, to be aware of which French word Lacan uses in the original text.
- Savoir is the kind of knowledge which psychoanalytic treatment aims at. It is bothknowledge of the subject's relation to the symbolic order, and also that relation itself. This knowledge is simply the articulation of signifiers in the subject's symbolic universe, the signifying chain (S2). The unconscious is simply another name for symbolicknowledge insofar as it is an 'unknown knowledge', a knowledge which the subject doesnot know he knows. Psychoanalytic treatment aims at a progressive revelation of thisknowledge to the subject, and is based on the premise that the only means of access tothis knowledge is via a particular form of speech called free association. However, psychoanalytic treatment does not aim at a Hegelian 'absolute knowledge', because theunconscious is irreducible; there is an inescapable division between the subject andknowledge. Symbolic knowledge is knowledge of the truth about one's unconsciousdesire. Knowledge in this sense is a form of jouissance: 'knowledge is the jouissance ofthe Other' (S17,13). Symbolic knowledge does not reside in any particular subject, norin the Other (which is not a subject but a locus), but is intersubjective. However, this doesnot prevent one supposing that somewhere there is a subject who possesses this symbolicknowledge (see SUBJECT SUPPOSED TO KNOW).
- Connaissance (and its necessary correlate, meconnaissance) is the kind of self-knowledge that belongs to the imaginary register. It is by misunderstandingandmisrecognition (meconnaissance) that the subject comes to the imaginary knowledge ofhimself (me-connaissance)which is constitutive of the ego (E,306).The ego is thus anillusory kind of self-knowledge based on a fantasy of self-mastery and unity.There isalso a co-birth (co-naissance)of the ego and the other (a reference to Claudel's formula,'Toute naissance est une co-naissance).Imaginary knowledge is called paranoiacknowledge'by Lacan (E,2)because it has the same structure as paranoia(both involve adelusion of absolute knowledge and mastery),and because one of the preconditions of allhuman knowledge is the paranoiac alienation of the ego'(Lacan,1951b:12).Imaginaryknowledge is an obstacle which hinders the subject's access to symbolic knowledge.Psychoanalytic treatment must therefore continually subvert the subject's imaginary self-knowledge in order to reveal the symbolic self-knowledge which it blocks.