Changes

The [[French]] term ''[[gap|béance]]'' is an antiquated literary term which means a "large hole or opening."  It is also a [[scientific]] term used in medicine to denote the opening of the larynx.

The term is used in several ways in [[Lacan]]'s work. In 1946, he speaks of an "interrogative gap" which opens up in [[madness]], when the [[subject]] is perplexed by the phenomenona which he experiences ([[hallucinations]], etc).<ref>{{Ec}} pp. 165-6</ref>

In the early 1950s, the term comes to refer to the fundamental rupture between [[man]] and [[nature]], which is due to the fact that "in man, the imaginary relation has deviated, in so far as that is where the gap is produced whereby death makes itself felt."<ref>{{S2}} p. 210</ref> This [[gap]] between [[man]] and [[nature]] is evident in the [[mirror stage]]:

In 1957 the term is used in the context of the relationship between the [[sex]]es; "in the relation between man and woman... a gap always remains open.<ref>{{S4}} p.374; {{S4}} p.408</ref> This anticipates [[Lacan]]'s later remarkes on the [[existence|non-existence]] of the [[sexual relationship]].

In 1964, [[Lacan]] argues that "the relation of the subject to the Other is entirely produced in a process of gap,"<ref>{{S11}} p. 206</ref> and states that the [[subject]] is constituted by a [[gap]], since the [[subject]] is essentially [[divided]].  He also argues that the concept of [[causality]] is essentially problematic because there is always a mysterious, inexplicable [[gap]] betwen [[cause]] and effect.<ref>{{S11}} p.21-2</ref>

[[Lacan]] also uses the term "[[gap|dehiscence]]" in a way that makes it practically synonymous, in his [[discourse]], with the term "gap".  [[gap|Dehiscence]] is a botanical term which designates the bursting open of mature seed-pots; [[Lacan]] uses the term to refer to the [[split]] which is constitutive of the [[subject]]: there is "a vital dehiscence that is constitutive of man."<ref>{{E}} p. 21</ref>  This [[split]] is also the [[division]] between [[culture]] and [[nature]] which means that [[man]]'s relation to the latter "is altered by a certain dehiscence at the heart of the organism, a primordial Discord."<ref>{{E}} p. 4</ref>