Vocation. Imaginary and desire

Abstract

This work presents the development of the idea of vocation, linked to the desire and the imaginary, which expresses itself as a response of meaning that, in its historical-social context, the subject offers itself to the question: what is the place of my task in the link with the others? The development of this theme arises from the questioning about the transformation of the idea of vocation and its tensions, based on the conclusions of two investigations already completed. The methodological strategy included antecedents of the idea of vocation from the Greek Philosophy, the discussion of Max Weber about the vocation and the profession; it is placed in the Mexican context and with biographical data of three outstanding characters, the analysis and conclusions based on the Freudian notion of Desire; the Imaginary, the Social-Historical and the notion of Desire of Cornelius Castoriadis. Finally, it is proposed that the vocation is not the crystallized representation of an unattainable design, but that it involves the “vital impulse” that the desire potentiates to construct a response of meaning that the subject offers itself and that the vocational choice is not a task of the subject isolated, but a process that involves others, giving shape to the imaginary matter with which it is possible to build life projects.