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[[Lacan]]'s discussion of 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 first context is [[Freud]]'s distinction between "[[Thing|word-presentations]]" (''[[Thing|Wort-vorstellungen]]'') and "[[Thing|thing-presentations]]" (''[[Thing|Sachvorstellungen]]'').  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}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Unconscious]]", 19l5e. [[SE]] XIV, 161</ref> This seemed to some of [[Lacan]]'s contemporaries to offer an objection to [[Lacan]]'s theories about the [[linguistic|linguistic nature]] of the [[unconscious]].

This seemed to some of [[Lacan]]'s contemporaries to offer an objection to [[Lacan]]'s theories about the [[linguistic|linguistic nature]] of the [[unconscious]]. [[Lacan]] counters such objections by pointing out that there are two words in [[German]] for "[[thing]]": ''[[Thing|das Ding]]'' and ''[[Thing|die Sache]]''.<ref>{{S7}} p. 62-3, 44-5</ref> It is the latter term which [[Freud]] usually employs to refer to the [[thing-presentations]] in the [[unconscious]], and [[Lacan]] argues that although on one level ''[[Thing|Sachvorstellungen]]'' and ''[[Thing|Wortvorstellungen]]'' are opposed, in the [[symbolic|symbolic level]] "they go together".

It is the latter term which [[Freud]] usually employs to refer to the [[thing-presentations]] in the [[unconscious]], and [[Lacan]] argues that although on one level ''[[Thing|Sachvorstellungen]]'' and ''[[Thing|Wortvorstellungen]]'' are opposed, in the [[symbolic|symbolic level]] "they go together". 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>  The [[thing-presentation]]s found in the [[unconscious]] are thus still [[linguistics|linguistic phenomena]], as opposed to ''[[Thing|das Ding]]'' which is entirely [[outside]] [[language]], and [[outside]] the [[unconscious]].

The second context is ''[[jouissance]]''. As well as the [[object]] of [[language]], ''[[Thing|das Ding]]'' is the [[object]] of [[desire]]. It is the [[castration|lost]] [[object]] which must be continually refound, it is the prehistoric, unforgettable [[Other]]<ref>{{S7}} p.53</ref> - in other words, the forbidden [[object]] of [[incest]]uous [[desire]], the [[mother]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 67</ref> The [[pleasure principle]] is the [[law]] which maintains the [[subject]] at a certain distance from the [[Thing]],<ref>{{S7}} p. 58, 63</ref> making the [[subject]] circle round it without ever attaining it.<ref>{{S7}} p. 95</ref>

As well as the [[object]] of [[language]], ''[[Thing|das Ding]]'' is the [[object]] of [[desire]].  It is the [[castration|lost]] [[object]] which must be continually refound, it is the prehistoric, unforgettable [[Other]]<ref>{{S7}} p.53</ref> - in other words, the forbidden [[object]] of [[incest]]uous [[desire]], the [[mother]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 67</ref> The [[pleasure principle]] is the [[law]] which maintains the [[subject]] at a certain distance from the [[Thing]],<ref>{{S7}} p. 58, 63</ref> making the [[subject]] circle round it without ever attaining it.<ref>{{S7}} p. 95</ref> The [[Thing]] is thus presented to the [[subject]] as his Sovereign Good, but if the [[subject]] transgresses the [[pleasure principle]] and attains this Good, it is experienced as suffering/evil,<ref>[[Lacan]] plays on the [[French]] term ''mal'', which can mean both suffering and evil; {{S7}} p. 179</ref> because the [[subject]] "cannot stand the extreme good that ''[[Thing|das Ding]]'' may bring to him."<ref>{{S7}} p. 73</ref>  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]].   However, the ideas associated with it provide the essential features of the new developments in the concept of the ''[[objet petit a]]'' as [[Lacan]] develops it from 1963 onwards.   For example the ''[[objet petit a]]'' is circled by the [[drive]]<ref>{{S11}} p. 168</ref> and is seen as the [[cause]] of [[desire]] just as ''[[thing|das Ding]]'' is seen as "the cause of the most fundamental human passion."<ref>{{S7}} p.97</ref>  Also, the fact that the [[Thing]] is not the [[imaginary]] [[object]] but firmly in the [[register]] of the [[real]], <ref>{{S2}} p. 112</ref> and yet is "that which in the real suffers from the signifier,"<ref>{{S7}} p. 125</ref> anticipates the transition in [[Lacan]]'s thought towards locating ''[[objet petit a]]'' increasingly in the [[register]] of the [[real]] from 1963 on.

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