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==Sigmund Freud==
[[Freud]] compares the [[psyche ]] with an [[optical model|optical apparatus ]] such as a microscope or a camera in ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]''.<ref>Freud{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900. 1900a: [[SE ]] IV-V. p.: 536</ref>
==Jacques Lacan==
[[Image:Lacan-opticalmodel.jpg|thumb|right|[[The optical model]]]][[Lacan]] also uses [[optical model|optical apparatuses ]] at several points in his [[Work of Sigmund Freud|work]].
For example, he uses the [[camera]] to provide a "materialist definition of the phenomenon of consciousness."<ref>{{S2}} Chapter 4.</ref>
[[Lacan]] argues that [[optics]] is a useful way of approaching the [[structure]] of the [[psyche]] because [[images]] play an important role in [[psychic]] [[structure]] <ref>{{SlS1}} p.76</ref>.
However, like [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] warns that such an approach can never provide more than rather crude analogies, since [[optical]] [[image]]s are not the same as the kind of [[image]]s which are the [[object]] of [[psychoanalytic]] [[research]].
For this reason, [[Lacan]] soon replaces [[optical]] [[image]]s with [[topological]] [[figures]] which are intended to prevent [[imaginary]] [[capture]].
Nevertheless, as [[Freud]] said of his own [[optical model]]s, "we need the assistance of provisional ideas."<ref>Freud{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900. [[SE]] IV-V: 536</ref>.
==The Optical Model==
The [[optical model]] first appears in 1954 <ref>{{SlS1}} p.124</ref>, and is reproduced in the [[seminar]], [[Le transfert]], on the [[transference]] (1960-1), and elsewhere.
It is basically an optical experiment which is constructed by means
This [[virtual]] [[image]] is only [[visible]] to a [[subject]] who places himself within a particular area of [[vision]].
==Examples==
[[Lacan]] uses the [[opticall optical model]] to illustrate various points.
Two of the most important points are the [[structure|structuring]] role of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] and the function of the [[ego-ideal]].
===Symbolic Structure===
The [[optical model]] illustrates the way that the position of the [[subject]] in the [[symbolic]] [[order]] (represented by the angle of the plane mirror) determines the way in which the [[imaginary]] is articulated with the [[real]].
The [[optical model]] thus illustrates the primary importance of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] in [[structuring]] the [[imaginary]].
rotation of the plane [[mirror]], which alters the position of the [[subject]] in the [[symbolic]].
==Figure=Ego-Ideal===Figure 12 The [[optical modelSource: Jacques Lacan]] also illustrates the function of the [[ideal ego]], which is represented in the diagram as the [[real]] [[image]], in opposition to the [[ego-ideal]], The Seminarwhich is the [[symbolic]] guide governing the angle of the [[mirror]] and hence the position of the [[subject]]. Book I<ref>{{S1}} p. Freud's Papers on Technique, trans. with notes by John Forrester, New York: Norton: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988141</ref>.
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Optics]]
* [[Vision]]
* [[Imaginary]]
* [[Symbolic
* [[Ego -ideal]]* [[Ideal -ego]]
* [[Materialism]]
{{Also}}
==References==
<references/>
