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Optical schema

151 bytes added, 13:28, 4 August 2020
added references and image
[[Lacan]] borrowed his [[optical]] [[schema]] from [[physics]]<ref>Berkeley Physics Demos, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200119145017/http://berkeleyphysicsdemos.net/node/723 Phantom Bouquet: Real image from a concave mirror]</ref><ref>Hopkins, George M, ''Experimental [[Science]]: Elementary, [[Practical]] and Experimental Physics'', Munn & Co (1890), p. 211</ref>. He used it to illustrate the [[role]] of the [[real]] [[Other]] in constructing both the [[body]] and the [[specular]] [[image]] as the [[model]] for the ego.
Lacan introduced this schema in his [[seminar]] of 1953-1954, on <i>[[Seminar I|Freud's Papers on Technique]]</i>. He took his cue from [[Freud]]'s reference to an optical schema in [[The Interpretation of Dreams|''The Interpretation of Dreams'']]<ref>[[Freud, Sigmund]] (1900a), ''The [[interpretation]] of [[dreams]]''. SE V p. 536</ref>:<blockquote>[[Optics]] could also have its say. At this point I find that I'm not in disagreement with the [[tradition]] established by the [[master]] - more than one of you must have noticed in the ''Traumdeutung'', in the chapter 'The [[psychology]] of the [[dream]]-process', the famous schema into which Freud inserts the entire proceedings of the [[unconscious]].<ref [[name]]=":0">[[Lacan, Jacques]]. (1988). ''[[The Seminar]] of [[Jacques Lacan]], Book I, Freud's Papers on [[Technique]] (1953-1954)''. (John Forrester, Trans.). New York: Norton. p. 74</ref></blockquote>Lacan first used the schema to illustrate the reciprocal play of the [[Real, the (Lacan)|real]], the [[imaginary]], and the [[symbolic]] in [[Melanie Klein]]'s [[case]] of "Little Dick."<ref>[[Klein]], Melanie. (1930). ''[[Media:Klein - The Importance of Symbol-Formation in the Development of the Ego (1930).pdf|The importance of symbol-formation in the development of the ego]]''. International Journal of [[Psycho]]-[[Analysis]], 11:24-39</ref>[[File:Lacan-opticalmodel.jpg|thumb|Lacan's simplified optical schema]]Because of the optical properties of concave mirrors, a bouquet of flowers that is hidden from the [[visual]] field of the viewer emerges above the vase. And if the eye of the viewer is properly placed, an image of flowers in the vase is produced as a [[whole]] or a [[unity]].
The [[illusory]] [[presence]] of the flowers in the vase represented a [[baby]]'s relation to his body, but this is something the baby cannot see. To create a "[[substitute]] for the [[mirror]]-[[stage]]"<ref name=":0" />, Lacan introduced a plane mirror.
In the [[virtual]] [[space]] beyond the mirror, a [[specular image]] is created, <i>i</i>′ <i>(a)</i>, and this is where the baby as [[subject]] recognizes the image as its ego. This represents the [[dimension]] of radical [[alienation]] in ego [[formation]] as it occurs in relation to the image of a fellow being—a [[process]] that is specific to secondary [[narcissism]] and the [[ideal]] ego.
Lacan returned to the optical schema in his seminar on <i>[[Seminar VIII|Transference]]</i><ref>Lacan, Jacques. (2015). ''The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book VIII, [[Transference]] (1960-1961)''. ([[Bruce Fink]], Trans.). Polity Press. p. 345</ref>, but then the plane mirror shows the effect that the parental Other's look has on the baby's organism. This look allows the baby to [[sense]] its own body, modeled on its specular image. Lacan even gave the Other a role in the formation of primary narcissism. This schema allows for an approach to the [[treatment]] of early psychopathologies prior to the [[mirror stage]]<ref>Laznik, Marie-Christine. [[Media:Laznik - Pour une théorie lacanienne des pulsions.pdf|Pour une théorie lacanienne des pulsions]]. Le [[Discours]] psychanalytique, 1993</ref>.[[File:Complete and simplified optical schemas.png|thumb|Schemas from Seminar X: Anxiety]]
In his seminar on <i>[[Seminar X|Anxiety]]</i><ref>Lacan, Jacques. (2014). ''The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book X, [[Anxiety]] (1962-1963)''. (A.R. Price, Trans.). Polity Press. p. 38</ref>, Lacan redesigned the schema in response to a question asked by [[André Green]] regarding the relations between [[the real]], [[the imaginary]], and [[the symbolic]].

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