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The "[[other/Other (]]" is perhaps the most [[complex]] term in [[Lacan]]'s [[work]]. {{Top}}[[autre/]]]]'', ''[[Autre) {{Bottom}}
==defJacques Lacan==OTHER [[Freud]] uses the term "[[other]]" to [[speak]] of ''[[Other|der Andere]]'' (see also LOVE"the other person")Zižekand ''s ultimate position is that there is no [[Other of |das Andere]]'' ("otherness"), but in the Other'. thatis1930s, no final guarantee of when [[Lacan]] first begins to use the symbolic order: "There term, it is no not very salient, and refers simply to "big Otherother [[people]]."guaranteeing the consistency The term seems to be borrowed from [[Hegel]], to whose work [[Lacan]] was introduced in a series of the symbolic space within which welectures given by [[Alexandre Kojève]] in 1933-9.
==Little and Big Other==
In 1955, [[Lacan]] draws a [[distinction]] between the "[[little other]]" and the "[[big Other]]" ("the [[Other]]"), a distinction which remains central throughout the rest of his work.<ref>{{S2}} Chapter 19</ref> Thereafter, in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]], the [[big Other]] is designated '''A''' (upper [[case]], for [[French]] ''[[Other|Autre]]'') and the [[little other]] is designated <i>'''a'''</i> (lower case italicized, for [[French]] ''[[Other|autre]]''). [[Lacan]] asserts that an [[awareness]] of this distinction is fundamental to [[analytic treatment|analytic practice]]: the [[analyst]] must be "thoroughly imbued" with the [[difference]] between '''A''' and <i>'''a'''</i>,<ref>{{E}} p. 140</ref> so that he can situate himself in the place of [[Other]], and not of the [[other]].<ref>{{Ec}} p. 454</ref>
===Little other (autre, "''a''") ===
The [[little other]] is the [[other]] who is not, in fact, [[other]], but a [[reflection]] or [[projection]] of the [[ego]].<ref>This is why the symbol a can [[represent]] the little other and the ego interchangeably in [[schema L]].</ref> It is simultaneously the [[counterpart]] and the [[specular image]]. The [[little other]] is inscribed in the [[imaginary]] [[order]] as both the [[counterpart]] and the [[specular image]].
===Big Other (Autre, "A")===
The [[big Other]] designates radical [[alterity]], an [[otherness]] which transcends the [[illusory]] [[other|otherness]] of the [[imaginary]] because it cannot be assimilated through [[identification]]. [[Lacan]] equates the [[big Other]] with [[language]] and the [[law]], and hence the [[big Other]] is inscribed in the [[symbolic]] [[order]]. Indeed, the [[big Other]] ''is'' the [[symbolic]] insofar as it is particularized for each [[subject]]. Thus, the [[Other]] is both another [[subject]] in its radical [[alterity]] and unassimilable uniqueness and also the [[symbolic]] [[order]] which mediates the [[relationship]] with that [[subject]].
==Speech and the Other==
However, the [[meaning]] of "the [[Other]] as another [[subject]]" is strictly secondary to the meaning of "the [[Other]] as [[symbolic]] [[order]]." "The Other must first of all be considered a locus, the locus in which speech is constituted."<ref>{{S3}} p. 274</ref> It is thus only possible to speak of the [[Other]] as a [[subject]] in a secondary [[sense]], in the sense that a [[subject]] may occupy this position and thereby "embody" the [[Other]] for another [[subject]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 202</ref>
==defLack in the Other== The 'other' It is perhaps the most complex term in Lacan's work. When Lacan [[mother]] who first begins to use the term, in the 1930s, it is not very salient, and refers simply to 'other people'. Although Freud does use the term 'other', speaking of both der Andere (the other person) and das Andere (otherness), Lacan seems to have borrowed the term from Hegel, to whose work Lacan was introduced in a series of lectures given by Alexandre KojËve at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in 1933-9 (see KojËve, 1947).In 1955 Lacan draws a distinction between 'the little other' ('the other') and 'occupies the [[big Otherposition]]' ('the Other') (S2, ch. 19), a distinction which remains central throughout the rest of his work. Thereafter, in Lacanian algebra, the [[big Other]] is designated A (upper case, for French Autre) and the little other is designated a (lower case italicised, for French autre). Lacan asserts that an awareness of this distinction is fundamental to analytic practice: the analyst must be 'thoroughly imbued' with the difference between A and a (E, 140), so that he can situate himself in the place of Other, and not of the other (Ec, 454).1. The little other is the other who is not [[Realchild]]ly other, but a reflection and projection of the EGo (which because it is why the symbol a can represent the little other and the ego interchangeably in SCHEMA L). He is simultaneously she who receives the [[Counterpart]] and the SPECULAR IMAGE. The little other is thus entirely inscribed in the [[Imaginarychild]] order. For a more detailed discussion of the development of the symbol a in Lacan's work, see oBJETPETITA.2. The [[big Otherprimitive]] designates radical alterity, an other-ness which transcends the illusory otherness of the [[Imaginary]] because it cannot be assimilated through identification. Lacan equates this radical alterity with language cries and the law, and hence the [[big Otherretroactively]] is inscribed in the order of the sanctions [[Symbolicthem]]. Indeed, the as a [[big Otherparticular]] is the [[Symbolicmessage]] insofar as it is particularised for each subject. The Other is thus both another subject, in his radical alterity and unassimilable uniqueness, and also the [[Symboliccastration complex]] order which mediates the relationship with that other subject.However, the meaning of 'the Other as another subject' is strictly secondary to formed when the meaning of 'the Other as [[Symbolicchild]] order'; 'the Other must first of all be considered a locus, the locus in which speech is constituted' (S3, 274). It is thus only possible to speak of the Other as a subject in a secondary sense, in the sense discovers that a subject may occupy this position and thereby 'embody' the Other for another subject (S8, 202).In arguing that speech originates not in the ego, nor even in the subject, but in the Other, Lacan is stressing that speech and language are beyond one's conscious control; they come from another place, outside consciousness, and hence 'the unconscious is the discourse of the Other' (Ec, 16). In conceiving of the Other as a place, Lacan alludes to Freud's concept of psychical locality, in which the unconscious is described as 'the other scene (see SCENE).It is the mother who first occupies the position of the [[big Other]] for the child, because it is she who receives the child's primitive cries and retroactively sanctions them as a particular message (see PUNCTUATION). The not [[Castration Complexcomplete]] is formed when the child discovers that this Other is not complete, that there is a LACK [[lack]] in the [[Other]]. In other [[words]], there is always a [[signifier ]] [[missing ]] from the treasury of signifiers [[signifier]]s constituted by the [[Other]]. The [[mythical ]] complete [[Other ]] (written '''A ''' in Lacanian [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]) does not [[exist]]. In 1957 [[Lacan ]] illustrates this incomplete [[Other ]] graphically by striking a BAR [[bar]] through the [[symbol ]] '''<strike>A, to produce A; hence </strike>'''. Hence another [[name ]] for the [[castrated]], incomplete [[Other ]] is the barred Other.The Other is also 'the Other sex' (S20, 40). The Other sex is always [[Womanbarred]], for both male and female subjects; 'Man here acts as the relay whereby the [[WomanOther]] becomes this Other for herself as she is this Other for him' (Ec, 732)'.
===The Other Sex===
The Other is also "the Other sex."<ref>{{S20}} p. 40</ref> The [[Other]] [[sex]] is always [[woman]], for both [[male]] and [[female]] [[subjects]].
<blockquote>"[[Man]] here [[acts]] as the relay whereby the [[woman]] becomes this Other for herself as she is this [[Other]] for him."<ref>{{Ec}} p. 732</ref></blockquote>
==defSee Also=={{See}}* [[Bar]]* [[Counterpart]]* [[Ego]]||* [[Imaginary]]* [[Little other]]* [[Lack]]||* [[Language]]* [[Law]]* [[Mother]]||* ''[[Objet (petit) a]]''* [[Specular image]]* [[Subject]]||* [[Symbolic]]* [[Unconscious]]* [[Woman]]{{Also}}