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[[Lacan]]'s discussion of "[[Thing|the Thing]]" constitutes one of the central themes in the [[seminar]] of 1959-60 (''[[Seminars|L'éthique de la psychanalyse]]'' – "[[The Ethics of Psychoanalysis]]"), where he uses the [[French]] term ''[[Thing|la Chose]]’’ interchangeably with the [[German]] term ''[[Thing|das Ding]]''.

There are two main contexts in which this term operates.

The distinction is prominent in [[Freud]]'s metapsychological writings, in which he argues that the two types of presentation are bound together in the [[preconscious]]-[[conscious]] system, whereas in the [[unconscious|unconscious system]] only [[thing-presentations]] are found.<ref>{{F}} 19l5e</ref>

Thus ''[[Thing|die Sache]]’’ is the representation of a [[thing]] in the [[symbolic]] [[order]], as opposed to ''[[thing|das Ding]]’’, which is the [[thing]] in its "dumb reality",<ref>{{S7}} p.55</ref> the [[thing]] in the [[real]], which is "the beyond-of-the-signified."<ref>{{S7}} p.54</ref>

<blockquote>"The Thing is characterised by the fact that it is impossible for us to imagine it."<ref>{{S7}} p.12</ref></blockquote>

[[Lacan]]'s concept of the [[Thing]] as an unknowable x, beyond [[symbolisation]], has clear affinities with the [[Kant]]ian "thing-in-itself".

The context of ''[[jouissance]]''.

It is fortunate, then, that the [[Thing]] is usually inaccessible.<ref>{{S7}} p.59</ref>

After the [[seminar]] of 1959-60, the term ''[[das Ding]]'' disappears almost entirely from [[Lacan]]'s [[Work of Jacques Lacan|work]].

==See Also==

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{{Also}}

[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]

[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]

[[Category:Real]]

[[Category:Dictionary]]

[[Category:Concepts]]

[[Category:Terms]]