Abstract

This paper investigates the child’s relationship with knowledge. Clinical practice and analytical research with children with difficulties to access school knowledge revealed the unconscious dynamics in which knowledge occupies a place in the family symptom. A theoretical discussion will be presented considering that access to knowledge bears a structural dimension of impediment, which is the impossibility of knowing in the face of castration. Therefore, we will investigate two paths to discuss what prevents access to knowledge. The first addresses the relationship between demand and desire and how it affects children. The second discusses the relationship between knowledge and truth, exploring the relationships and boundaries between both, adding to this discussion a third essential term: jouissance.

Keywords:
knowledge; child psychoanalysis; child’s symptom; demand and desire; truth