Jean-Claude Milner

Jean-Claude Milner (; born 3 January 1941) is a linguist, philosopher and essayist. His specialist fields of endeavour are linguistics (which he studied with Roland Barthes) and psychoanalysis (through the teaching and friendship of Jacques Lacan). In 1971, Milner was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he translated Noam Chomsky's Aspects of the Theory of Syntax into French. His work helped to establish the terminology of theory of syntax in the French school of generative grammar. Milner is now a professor at the University Paris Diderot and lives in Paris.

Life and work Milner, who was born in Paris, is the son of a Lithuanian immigrant Jewish father and an Alsatian mother of the Protestant faith. After studies in a second year preparatory class for the humanities during high school, Milner studied at both École Normale Supérieure and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His education was shaped by the thought and teaching of Louis Althusser and Jacques Lacan. Lacan's influence may also be tied to his friendship with Jacques-Alain Miller during these early years. Miller became, subsequently, the son-in-law of Lacan. Both Miller and Milner attended Lacan's seminars held at the ENS and their friendship was instrumental in the founding and direction of the Cahiers pour l'Analyse several years later.

From 1968 to 1971, Milner was affiliated with the Maoist group Gauche prolétarienne. Milner disavowed or moved away from these early affiliations. Alain Badiou, who has remained steadfast in his Maoist affiliations, engaged in a long-standing contretemps with Milner over these changing affiliations (and many other differences, including accusing Badiou of antisemitism).

Milner also received training and education from Roland Barthes and made a close reading of Roman Jakobson. Milner also follows developments of Chomskyian theory though he does not adhere to the hypothesis of a biological justification for it which Chomsky defended.

Milner's later work, such as the English publication of For the Love of Language, has been called, "a path-breaking reflection on the consequences of Lacan's theory for the study of language".

Since 2000, particularly in France, Milner has been recognised for his essays concerning anti-Semitism in European history and culture. For several years, he has held a seminar devoted to this theme at the Institut d'études levinassiennes in Paris.

Selected publications

English For The Love of Language, translated and introduced by Ann Banfield. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 1990. "The Doctrine of Science", translated by Oliver Feltham. Umbr(a): A Journal of the Unconscious, Science, and Truth. (2000), pp. 33–63. This is the second chapter of Milner's L’Œuvre claire : Lacan, la science, et la philosophie. Slavoj Žižek (Ed.). Jacques Lacan: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory (4 Volumes). Volume One contains "The Doctrine of Science" (see above). Volume Two contains "Extracts from For The Love of Language", which is Chapters 5, 6, & 7 of For The Love of Language, pp. 98–127. "The Prince and the Revolutionary", Crisis and Critique, volume 3, issue 1 (2016), pp. 71–78 "The Tell-Tale Constellations", translated by Christian R. Gelder. S: Journal for the Circle of Lacanian Ideology Critique. (2016), pp. 31-38.

Translations into French Noam Chomsky : Aspects de la theorie syntaxique, Paris: Éditions Le Seuil, 1971.

Books Arguments linguistiques, Mame, 1973 De la syntaxe à l’interprétation. Quantités, insultes, exclamations, Le Seuil, collection « Travaux linguistiques », 1978 L’Amour de la langue, Le Seuil, collection « Connexions du Champ freudien », 1978 Ordres et raisons de langue, Le Seuil, 1982 Les Noms indistincts, Le Seuil, collection « Connexions du Champ freudien », 1983 De l’école, le Seuil, 1984 De l'inutilité des arbres en linguistique, Département de Recherches Linguistiques, Un. de Paris VII, coll. ERA 642, 1985 Détections fictives, Le Seuil, collection « Fictions & Cie », 1985 Introduction à un traitement du passif, Département de Recherches Linguistiques, Un. de Paris VII, coll. ERA 642, 1986 (rééd.) Dire le vers, (en collaboration avec François Regnault), Le Seuil, 1987 Introduction à une science du langage, Le Seuil, collection « Travaux linguistiques », 1989 Constat, 1992 Archéologie d’un échec : 1950-1993, Le Seuil, 1993 L’Œuvre claire : Lacan, la science et la philosophie, Éditions Le Seuil, collection « L’Ordre philosophique », 1995 « Les Dénis », dans Paroles à la bouche du présent. Le négationnisme, histoire ou politique ?, sous la direction de Natacha Michel, Éd. Al Dante, 1997 Le Salaire de l’idéal, Éditions Le Seuil, 1997 Le Triple du plaisir, Verdier, 1997 Mallarmé au tombeau, Verdier, 1999 Les penchants criminels de l'Europe démocratique, Verdier, 2003 Existe-t-il une vie intellectuelle en France ?, Éditions Verdier, 2002 Le Périple structural, Figures et paradigmes, Éditions Le Seuil, collection « La couleur des idées », 2002 Constats, Gallimard, coll. Folio/Essais. (rassemble Constat, Le triple du plaisir, Mallarmé au tombeau) Le Pas philosophique de Roland Barthes, Verdier, 2003 La politique des choses, Navarin éditeur, 2005 Le Juif de savoir, Grasset, 2007 L'arrogance du présent. Regards sur une décennie, 1965-1975, Éditions Grasset, 2009