Changes

The [[father ]] continues to be a constant theme of [[Lacan]]'s work thereafter. ----

===Father as Third Term===[[Lacan]]'s emphasis on the imporance importance of the [[father]] can be seen as a reaction against the tendency of [[Kleinian psychoanalysis]] and [[object-relations theory]] to place the [[mother]]-[[child]] [[dual relation|relation]] at the heart of [[psychoanalytic theory]].

In opposition to this tendency, [[Lacan]] continually stresses the role of the [[father]] as a third term who, by mediating the [[imaginary]] [[dual relation]]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]], saves the [[child]] from [[psychosis]] and makes possible an entry into social existence.

The [[father]] is thus more than a mere rival with whom the [[subject]] competes for for the [[mother]]'s [[love]]; he is the representative of the social ordeer order as such, and only by identifying with the [[father]] in the [[Oedipus complex]] can the [[subject]] gain entry into this order.

However, the [[father]] is not a simple concept but a complex one, one which begs the question of what exactly is meant by the term "[[father]]."

===The Symbolic Father=======Paternal Function====The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is not a real [[being]] but a position, a funcitonfunction, and hence is synonymous with the term "[[Name-of-the-Father|paternal function]]."

This function is none other than that of imposing the [[law]] and regulating [[desire]] in the [[Oedipus complex]], of intervening in the [[imaginary]] [[dual relation]]ship between [[mother]] and [[child]] to introduce a necessary "[[symbolic|symbolic distance]]" between them.<ref>{{S4}} p.161</ref>

====Symbolic Position====Although the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is not an actual [[subject]] but a osition position in the [[symbolic order]], a [[subject]] may nevertheless come to occupy this position, by virtue of exercising the paternal function.

By structuring descendence into a series of generations, patrilineality introduces an [[order]] "Who whose structure is different from the natural order."<ref>{{S3}} p.320</ref>

====Psychosis====The [[presencepsychotic]] of , however, does not even get this far; indeed, it is the [[imaginaryabsence]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal]] [imaginary|imaginary triangle]] indicates that of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is alreay functioning at which characterizes the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal stage; behind essence of the [[symbolicpsychotic]] [[mother]], there is always the [[symbolic]] [[fatherstructure]].

===Psychosis and Perversion===[[Psychosis]] and [[perversion]] both involve, in different ways, a reduction of the [[father|symbolic]] [[father]] to the [[father|imaginary]] [[father]].  ==The real father== While Lacan is quite clear in defining what he means by the imaginary father and the symbolic father, his remarks on the real father are quite obscure.<ref>{{S4}} p.220</ref> Lacan's only unequivocal formulation is that the real father is the agent of castration, the one who performs the operation of symbolic castration.<ref>{{S17}} p.149; {{S7}} p.307</ref>

Apart from this, ==The Real Father== ===Agent of Castration===While [[Lacan gives few other clues about ]] is quite clear in defining what he means by the phrase[[father|imaginary father]] and the [[father|symbolic father]], his remarks on the [[father|real father]] are quite obscure.<ref>{{S4}} p. 220</ref>

In 1960, he describes [[Lacan]]'s only unequivocal formulation is that the [[father|real father as ]] is the agent of [[castration]], the one who 'effectively occupies' performs the mother, the 'Great Fucker',operation of [[symbolic]] [[castration]].<ref>{{S7S17}} p.307</ref> and even goes on to say, in 1970, that the real father is the spermatozoon, though he immediately qualifies this statement with the remark that nobody has ever thought of himself as the son of a spermatozoon.<ref>149; {{S17S7}} p.148307</ref>

On the basis of these comments===Biological Father===Apart from this, it seems possible to argue that the real father is the biological father of [[Lacan]] gives few other clues about what he means by the subjectphrase.

HoweverIn 1960, since a degree of uncertainty always surrounds he describes the [[father|real father]] as the question of one who 'effectively occupies' the biological father really is ('"pater semper incertus est"[[mother]], while the mother is "certissimaGreat Fucker"'; ,<ref>{{FS7}} 1909cp. [[SE]] IX, 239307</ref> it would be more precise and even goes on to say , in 1970, that the [[father|real father ]] is the man who is said to be spermatozoon, though he immediately qualifies this statement with the remark that nobody has ever thought of himself as the subject's biological fatherson of a spermatozoon.<ref>{{S17}} p. 148</ref>

The real father is thus an effect On the basis of languagethese comments, and it is in this sense seems possible to argue that the adjective [[father|real father]] is to be understood here: the real [[biological]] [[father]] of language, rather than the real of biology.<ref>{{S17}} p[[subject]].147-8</ref>

===Intervention in the Oedipus Complex===The [[father|real father ]] plays a crucial role in the [[Oedipus complex]]; it is he who intervenes in the third 'time' of the [[Oedipus complex ]] as the one who castrates [[castrate]]s the child (see [[castration complex]]).

This intervention saves the child from the preceding [[anxiety]]; without it, the child requires a [[phobia|phobic ]] [[object ]] as a [[symbolic ]] substitute for the [[absent ]] [[father|real father]].

The intervention of the [[father|real father ]] as agent of [[castration ]] is not simply equivalent to his physical presence in the family.

As the case of [[Little Hans ]] indicates,<ref>{{F}} 1909c. [[SE]] IX, 239<ref> the [[father|real father ]] may be physically present and yet fail to intervene as agent of [[castration]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 212, 221</ref>

Conversely, the intervention of the [[father|real father ]] may well be felt by the child even when the [[father ]] is physically [[absent]].