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=====Sigmund Freud==========Phallus and Penis===== [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]] abounds in references to the [[phallus|penis]]. [[Freud]] argues that children of both [[sexual difference|sexes]] set great value on the [[phallus|penis]], and that their discovery that some [[human]] [[being]]s do not possess a [[phallus|penis]] leads to important psychical consequences. However, the term "[[phallus]]" rarely appears in [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]], and when it does it is used as a synonym of "[[phallus|penis]]".

[[Freud]] argues that children of both [[sexual difference|sexes]] set great value on the [[phallus|penis]], and that their discovery that some [[human]] [[being]]s do not possess a [[phallus|penis]] leads to important psychical consequences.  However, the term "[[phallus]]" rarely appears in [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]], and when it does it is used as a synonym of "[[phallus|penis]]".  =====Sexual Difference=====

=====Jacques Lacan=====[[Lacan]] generally prefers to use the term "[[phallus]]" rather than "[[phallus|penis]]" in order to emphasize the fact that what concerns [[psychoanalytic theory]] is not the [[biology|male genital organ]] in its [[biology|biological]] [[reality]] but the role that this organ plays in [[fantasy]].   Hence [[Lacan]] usually reserves the term "[[phallus|penis]]" for the [[biology|biological organ]], and the term "[[phallus]]" for the [[imaginary]] and [[symbolic]] functions of this [[biology|organ]].

<!-- =====Freud's Work=====--><!-- While this terminological distinction is not found in [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]], it responds to the logic implicit in [[Freud]]'s formulations on the [[phallus|penis]]. For example, when [[Freud]] speaks of a [[symbolic]] equation between the [[phallus|penis]] and the [[baby]] which allows the [[girl]] to appease her [[penis envy]] by having a [[child]], it is clear that he is not talking about the [[biology|real organ]].<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|On the Transformations of Instinct, as Exemplified in Anal Eroticism]]." 1917c. [[SE]] XVII, 127</ref> It can be argued, then, that [[Lacan]]'s terminological innovation simply clarifies certain distinctions that were already implicit in [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]]. -->

For example, when ===Lacan's Work===Although not prominent in [[FreudLacan]] speaks of a 's [[symbolicWorks of Jacques Lacan|work]] equation between before the mid-1950s, the term "[[phallus|penis]] and the " occupies an ever more important place in his [[babydiscourse]] which allows the thereafter. The [[girl]] to appease her [[penis envyphallus]] by having plays a [[child]], it is clear that he is not talking about central role in both the [[biology|real organOedipus complex]].<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|On and in the Transformations theory of Instinct, as Exemplified in Anal Eroticism]]." 1917c. [[SEsexual difference]] XVII, 127</ref> .

===Oedipus complex===The [[phallus]] is one of the three elements in the [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] that constitutes the [[preoedipal phase]]. It can be arguedis an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which circulates between the other two elements, the [[mother]] and the [[child]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 319</ref> The [[mother]] [[desire]]s this [[object]] and the [[child]] seeks to satisfy her [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with the [[phallus]] or with the [[phallus|phallic mother]]. In the [[Oedipus complex]] the [[father]] intervenes as a fourth term in this [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] by [[castration|castrating]] the [[child]]; that is, he makes it impossible for the [[child]] to [[identify]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]]. The [[child]] is then, that faced with the choice of accepting his [[Lacancastration]]'s terminological innovation simply clarifies certain distinctions (accepting that were already implicit in he cannot be the [[Freudmother]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|workphallus]]) or rejecting it. ((For Lacan, the phallus is not to be equated with the penis, and as a signifier it performs a different function in each of the three orders: the imaginary, the symbolic and the real.))

=====Lacan's Work==Sexual Difference=== Although not prominent in [[Lacan]]'argues that both [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s must assume their [[castration]], in the sense that every [[Works child]] must renounce the possibility of Jacques Lacanbeing the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]]; this "relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to the anatomical difference of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref> The renunciation by both [[sexual difference|sexes]] of [[identification]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] paves the way for a relationship with the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] which is different for the [[sexual difference|worksexes]] before ; the man has the mid-1950s[[phallus|symbolic phallus]] (or, more precisely, "he is not without having it" [''il n'est pas sans l'avoir'']), but the [[woman]] does not. This is complicated by the fact that the [[woman|man]] can only lay claim to the term "[[phallus|symbolic phallus]]" occupies an ever more important place in on condition that he has assumed his own [[castration]] (has given up being the [[discoursephallus|imaginary phallus]] thereafter), and by the fact that the [[woman]]'s [[lack]] of the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is also a kind of possession.<ref>{{S4}} p.153</ref>

The [[phallus]] plays a central role in both the [[Oedipus complex]] and in the theory of [[sexual difference]]. =====Oedipus complex===== The [[phallus]] is one of the three elements in the [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] that constitutes the [[preoedipal phase]].  It is an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which circulates between the other two elements, the [[mother]] and the [[child]].<ref>{{S3}} p. 319</ref>  The [[mother]] [[desire]]s this [[object]] and the [[child]] seeks to satisfy her [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with the [[phallus]] or with the [[phallus|phallic mother]].  In the [[Oedipus complex]] the [[father]] intervenes as a fourth term in this [[imaginary]] [[structure|triangle]] by [[castration|castrating]] the [[child]]; that is, he makes it impossible for the [[child]] to [[identify]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]].  The [[child]] is then faced with the choice of accepting his [[castration]] (accepting that he cannot be the [[mother]]'s [[phallus]]) or rejecting it. ((For Lacan, the phallus is not to be equated with the penis, and as a signifier it performs a different function in each of the three orders: the imaginary, the symbolic and the real. )) =====Sexual Difference===== [[Lacan]] argues that both [[boy]]s and [[girl]]s must assume their [[castration]], in the sense that every [[child]] must renounce the possibility of being the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]]; this "relationship to the phallus . . . is established without regard to the anatomical difference of the sexes."<ref>{{E}} p. 282</ref>  The renunciation by both [[sexual difference|sexes]] of [[identification]] with the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] paves the way for a relationship with the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] which is different for the [[sexual difference|sexes]]; the man has the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] (or, more precisely, "he is not without having it" [''il n'est pas sans l'avoir'']), but the [[woman]] does not.  This is complicated by the fact that the [[woman|man]] can only lay claim to the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] on condition that he has assumed his own [[castration]] (has given up being the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]]), and by the fact that the [[woman]]'s [[lack]] of the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is also a kind of possession.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref> The status of the [[phallus]]: [[real]], [[imaginary]] or [[symbolic]]?  [[Lacan]] speaks of the [[phallus|real phallus]], the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] and the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]]:

As has already been observed, [[Lacan]] usually uses the term "[[phallus|penis]]" to denote the [[real]] [[biology|biological organ]] and reserves the term "[[phallus]]" to denote the [[imaginary]] and [[symbolic]] functions of this [[biology|organ]].   However, he does not always maintain this usage, occasionally using the term "[[phallus|real phallus]]" to denote the [[biology|biological organ]], or using the terms "[[phallus|symbolic phallus]]" and "[[phallus|symbolic penis]]" as if they were synonymous.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref>  This apparent confusion and semantic [[slip]]page has led some commentators to argue that the supposed distinction between the [[phallus]] and the [[phallus|penis]] is in fact highly unstable and that "the phallus concept is the site of a regression towards the biological organ."<ref>Macey, David. (1988) ''Lacan in Contexts''. London and New York: Verso. 1988: 191</ref>

While the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] and the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] are discussed more extensively by [[Lacan]] than the [[phallus|real phallus]], he does not entirely ignore the latter.  On the contrary, the [[phallus|real penis]] has an important role to play in the [[Oedipus complex]] of the little boy, for it is precisely via this [[biology|organ]] that his [[sexuality]] makes itself felt in infantile masturbation; this intrusion of the [[real]] in the [[imaginary]] [[preoedipal]] [[structure|triangle]] is what transforms the [[structure|triangle]] from something [[pleasure principle|pleasurable]] to something which provokes [[anxiety]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6; {{S4}} p. 341</ref>  The question posed in the [[Oedipus complex]] is that of where the [[phallus|real phallus]] is located; the answer required for the resolution of this [[complex]] is that it is located in the [[real]] [[father]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 281</ref>   The [[phallus|real phallus]] is written Π in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]. =====The Imaginary Phallus=====When [[Lacan]] first introduces the distinction between [[phallus|penis]] and [[phallus]], the [[phallus]] refers to an [[imaginary]] [[object]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 31</ref>  This is the "[[phallus|image of the penis]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 319</ref> the [[phallus|penis]] imagined as a [[part-object]] which may be detached from the [[fragmented body|body]] by [[castration]],<ref>{{E}} p. 315</ref> the "phallic image".<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref>  The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is perceived by the [[child]] in the [[preoedipal phase]] as the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], as that which she [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]]; the [[child]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with this [[object]].  The [[Oedipus complex]] and the [[Castration complex]] involve the renunciation of this attempt to be the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]].

===The Imaginary Phallus===When [[Lacan]] first introduces the distinction between [[phallus|penis]] and [[phallus]], the [[phallus]] refers to an [[imaginary]] [[object]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 31</ref> This is the "[[phallus|image of the penis]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 319</ref> the [[phallus|penis]] imagined as a [[part-object]] which may be detached from the [[fragmented body|body]] by [[castration]],<ref>{{E}} p. 315</ref> the "phallic image".<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref> The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is perceived by the [[child]] in the [[preoedipal phase]] as the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], as that which she [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]]; the [[child]] thus seeks to [[identify]] with this [[object]]. The [[Oedipus complex]] and the [[Castration complex]] involve the renunciation of this attempt to be the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]]. The [[phallus|imaginary phallus]] is written φ (lower-case phi) in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]], which also represents [[phallus|phallic signification]]. [[Castration]] is written -φ (minus lower-case phi).

[[Castration]] is written -φ (minus lower-case phi). =====The Symbolic Phallus=====The [[phallus|imaginary phallus] which circulates between [[mother]] and [[child]] serves to institute the first [[dialectic]] in the child's life, which, although it is an [[imaginary]] [[dialectic]], already paves the way towards the [[symbolic]], since an [[imaginary]] element is circulated in much the same way a [[signifier]] (the [[phallus]] becomes an "[[imaginary]] [[signifier]]").  Thus [[Lacan]]'s formulations on the [[phallus|imaginary phallus] in the [[seminar]] of 1956-7 are accompanied by statements that the [[phallus]] is also a [[symbolic]] [[object]]<ref>{{S4}} p. 152</ref> and that the [[phallus]] is a [[signifier]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 191</ref>  The idea that the [[phallus]] is a [[signifier]] is taken up again and further developed in the 1957-8 [[seminar]] and becomes the principle element of [[Lacan]]'s theory of the [[phallus]] thereafter; the [[phallus]] is described as "the [[signifier]] of the [[desire]] of the [[Other]]",<ref>{{E}} p. 290</ref> and the [[signifier]] of ''[[jouissance]]''.<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref>

Whereas the [[Castration complex]] and the [[Oedipus complex]] revolve around the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]], the question of [[sexual difference]] revolves around [[phallus|symbolic phallus]].   The [[phallus]] has no corresponding [[woman|female]] [[signifier]]; "the phallus is a symbol to which there is no correspondent, no equivalent. It's a matter of a dissymmetry in the signifier.'"<ref>{{S3}} p. 176</ref>   Both [[sexual difference|male]] and [[sexual difference|female]] [[subject]]s assume their

Unlike the [[phallus|imaginary phallus]], the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] cannot be [[negation|negated]], for on the [[symbolic]] plane an [[absence]] is just as much a positive entity as a [[presence]].<ref>{{E}} p. 320</ref>   Thus even the [[woman]], who [[lack]]s the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] in one way, can also be said to possess it, since not having it the [[symbolic]] is itself a form of having.<ref>{{S4}} p. 153</ref>  Conversely, the assumption of the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] by the man is only possible on the basis of the prior assumption of his own [[castration]]. [[Lacan]] goes on in 1961 to state that the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is that which appears in the place of the [[lack]] of the [[signifier]] in the [[Other]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 278-81</ref>  It is no ordinary [[signifier]] but the [[real]] [[presence]] of [[desire]] itself.<ref>{{S8}} p. 290</ref>   In 1973 he states that the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is "the signifier which does not have a signified".<ref>{{S20}} p. 75</ref> ---- The [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is written ф in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]].  However, [[Lacan]] warns his students that the complexity of this [[symbol]] might be missed if they simply identify it with the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 296</ref>  The [[symbol]] is more correctly understood as designating the "[[phallus|phallic function]]."<ref>{{S8}} p. 298</ref>  In the early 1970s [[Lacan]] incorporates this [[symbol]] of the [[phallus|phallic function]] in his [[sexual difference|formulae of sexuation]].  Using predicate logic to articulate the problems of [[sexual difference]], [[Lacan]] devises two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|masculine position]] and two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|feminine position]].  All four [[algebra|formulae]] revolve around the [[phallus|phallic function]], which is here equivalent with the function of [[castration]]. =====Criticisms of Lacan===== Of all [[Lacan]]'s ideas, his concept of the [[phallus]] is perhaps the one which has given rise to most controversy.  Objections to [[Lacan]]'s concept fall into two main groups. ---- Firstly, some feminist writers have argued that the privileged position [[Lacan]] accords to the [[phallus]] means that he merely repeats the patriarchal gestures of [[Freud]] (e.g. Grosz, 1990).

The second main objection to [[phallus|symbolic phallus]] is written ф in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]. However, [[Lacan]]'s concept warns his students that the complexity of this [[symbol]] might be missed if they simply identify it with the [[phallus|symbolic phallus]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 296</ref> The [[symbol]] is that put forward by more correctly understood as designating the "[[Jacques Derridaphallus|phallic function]]."<ref>Derrida, Jacques{{S8}} p. (1975) "Le facteur de la vérité298</ref> In the early 1970s [[Lacan]] incorporates this [[symbol]] of the [[phallus|phallic function]] in his [[sexual difference|formulae of sexuation]]." ''The Post Card: From Socrates Using predicate logic to Freud articulate the problems of [[sexual difference]], [[Lacan]] devises two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|masculine position]] and Beyond''two [[algebra|formulae]] for the [[sexual difference|feminine position]]. Trans. Alan Bass All four [[algebra|formulae]] revolve around the [[phallus|phallic function]], Chicago and London: University which is here equivalent with the function of Chicago Press, 1987 [1975[castration]]: 413-96</ref> and echoed by others.

[[Derrida]] argues that, despite ===Criticisms of Lacan===Of all [[Lacan]]'s protestations ideas, his concept of anti-transcendentalism, the [[phallus]] operates as a transcendental element is perhaps the one which acts as an ideal guarantee of has given rise to most controversy. Objections to [[meaningLacan]]'s concept fall into two main groups.

How can there be such a thing as a "Firstly, some feminist writers have argued that the privileged signifier"position [[Lacan]] accords to the [[phallus]] means that he merely repeats the patriarchal gestures of [[Freud]] (e.g. Grosz, asks 1990). Other feminists have defended [[DerridaLacan]], given arguing that every his distinction between the [[signifierphallus]] and the [[phallus|penis]] provides a way of accounting for [[sexual difference]] which is defined only by its differences from other irreducible to [[signifierbiology]]s? (e.g. Mitchell and Rose, 1982).

The second main objection to [[Lacan]]'s concept of the [[phallus]] is that put forward by [[Jacques Derrida]].<ref>Derrida, Jacques. (1975) "Le facteur de la vérité." ''The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond''. Trans. Alan Bass, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1987 [1975]: 413-96</ref> and echoed by others. [[Derrida]] argues that, despite [[Lacan]]'s protestations of anti-transcendentalism, the [[phallus]] operates as a transcendental element which acts as an ideal guarantee of [[meaning]]. How can there be such a thing as a "privileged signifier", asks [[Derrida]], given that every [[signifier]] is defined only by its differences from other [[signifier]]s? The [[phallus]], in other words, reintroduces the metaphysics of [[presence]] which [[Derrida]] denominates as logocentrism, and thus [[Derrida]] concludes that, by articulating this with [[phallocentrism]], [[Lacan]] has created a

=====See Also=====