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In Freud's writings it is difficult to discern any systematic distinction between the three related terms 'ego-ideal' (Ich-ideal), 'ideal ego' (Ideal Ich), and superego (‹berÜber-Ich), although neither are the terms simply used interchangeably. Lacan, however, argues that these three 'formations of the ego' are each quite distinct concepts which must not be confused with one another.In his pre-war writings [[Lacan ]] is mainly concerned to establish a distinction between the [[ego-ideal ]] and the [[superego]], and does not refer to the [[ideal ego]].Although both the [[ego-ideal ]] and the SUPEREGo [[superego]] are linked with the decline of the [[Oedipus complex]], and both are products of [[identification ]] with the [[father]], [[Lacan ]] argues that they represent different aspects of the [[father]]'s dual role.The [[superego ]] is an [[unconscious ]] [[agency ]] whose function is to [[repression|repress ]] [[sexuality|sexual ]] [[desire ]] for the [[mother]], whereas the [[ego-ideal ]] exerts a [[conscious ]] pressure towards [[sublimation ]] and provides the coordinates which enable the [[subject ]] to take up a sexual position as a man or woman .<ref>(Lacan, 1938: 59-62).</ref>In his post-war writings [[Lacan pays ]] more attention to distinguishing the [[ego-ideal ]] from the [[ideal ego ]] (Fr. ''moi idÈal. Note: at one point, in 1949, Lacan uses the term je-idÈal to render Freud's Ideal-Ich [E, 2]; however, he soon abandons this practice and for the rest of his work uses the term moi idÈal.'). Thus in the 1953-4 seminar, he develops the OPTICAL MODEL [[optical model]] to distinguish between these two formations. He argues that the [[ego-ideal ]] is a [[symbolic ]] [[introjection]], whereas the ideal ego is the source of an imaginary projection .<ref>(see S8, 414).</ref>The [[ego-ideal ]] is the [[signifier ]] operating as ideal, an internalised plan of the [[law]], the guide governing the [[subject]]'s position in the [[symbolic ]] [[order]], and hence anticipates secondary (Oedipal) [[identification ]] (Sl, 141) or is a product of that [[identification ]] (Lacan, 1957-8). The [[ideal ego]], on the other hand, originates in the [[specular image ]] of the [[mirror stage]]; it is a promise of future synthesis towards which the [[ego ]] tends, the [[illusion ]] of unity on which the [[ego ]] is built.The ideal ego always accompanies the ego, as an ever-present attempt to regain the omnipotence of the preoedipal dual relation. Though formed in primary identification, the ideal ego continues to play a role as the source of all secondary identifications (E, 2). The [[ideal ego ]] is written i(a) in Lacanian [[algebra]], and the [[ego ideal ]] is written I(A).