24,656
edits
Changes
no edit summary
== def ==
The '''graph of desire''' is a conceptual tool from the psychoanalytic theory of [[Jacques Lacan]].
"[[Graph of desire]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[graphe du désir]]'')
The [[graph of desire]] is a [[topology|topographical representation]] of the [[structure]] of [[desire]].
==Jacques Lacan==
[[Lacan]] first develops the [[graph of desire]] in [[Seminar V|the seminar of 1957-8]] in order to illustrate the [[psychoanalytic theory]] of [[joke]]s.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. ''Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. SE VIII. 1905.</ref>
The [[graph of desire|graph]] reappears in some of the following [[seminars]], but then all but disappears from [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
The [[graph of desire|graph]] appears in various forms, although the most well known form of it appears in "[[The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious]]."<ref>[[Lacan, Jacques]]. "Subversion du sujet et dialectique du désir dans l'inconscient freudien." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.793-827. "[[The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious]]." [[Ecrits: A Selection]]. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock. 1977. p.292-325</ref>
===Four Stages===
In this paper, [[Lacan]] builds up the [[graph of desire]] in four stages.
The first of these stages in the "[[graph of desire|elementary cell]]" of the [[graph of desire|graph]].<ref>{{E}} p.303</ref>
[[Image:Lacan-graph-elementary.jpg|Elementary Cell|thumb|right]]
---
The horizontal line represents the [[diachronic]] [[signifying chain]]; the horseshow-shaped line represents the vector of the [[subject]]'s [[intention]]ality.
The double intersection of these two lines illustrates the nature of [[time|retroaction]]: the message, at the point marked '''s(A)''' in the [[graph|complete graph]], is the ''[[point de capiton]]'' determined [[time|retroactively]] by the particular [[punctuation]] given to it by the [[Other]], '''A'''.
The pre[[linguistic]] mythical [[subject]] of pure [[need]], indicated by the triangle, must pass through the defiles of the [[signifier]] which produces the [[divided]] [[subject]], '''$'''.
--
The intermediate stages of the [[graph of desire]] are not meant to show any [[progress|evolution]] or [[development|temporal development]], since the [[graph of desire|graph]] always exists as a whole; they are simply pedagogical devices used by [[Lacan]] in order to illustrate the [[structure]] of the complete graph.<ref>{{E}} p.315</ref>
--
[[Image:Lacan-graph-complete.jpg|Complete Graph|thumb|right]]
In the [[graph of desire|complete graph]] there are not one but two [[signifying chain]]s.
The lower chain (from the [[signifier]] to the [[voice]]) is the [[conscious]] signifying chain]], the level of the [[statement]].
The upper chain (from ''[[jouissance]]'' to [[castration]]) is the [[signifying chain]] in the [[unconscious]], the level of the [[enunciation]].
The [[structure]] is thus duplicated: the upper part of the graph is structured exactly like the lower part.
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Lacan]]
