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=Introduction=
Lacan's work in the 1950s placed emphasis on the role of language and the symbolic order.
We will see how these ideas work in practice later, but first we need to clarify one final ambiguity regarding the superego.
=Pathology=
Freud argued that all [[psychopathology|psychopathological]] [[structure]]s could be traced to a malfunction in the [[Oedipus complex]], which was thus dubbed 'the nuclear complex of the neuroses'.
(Following the resolution of the [[Oedipus complex]], [[sexuality]] begins a [[latency period]] until it reappears during puberty.)
[[Freud]] argued that the [[Oedipus complex]] was a universal, trans-historical and trans-cultural phenomenon.
<blockquote>[T]he Oedipus complex is the nuclear complex of neuroses, and constitutes the essential part of their content.
It represents the peak of infantile sexuality, which, through its after-effects, exercises a decisive influence on the sexuality of adults.
Every new arrival on this planet is faced by the task of mastering the Oedipus complex; anyone who fails to do so falls a victim to neurosis.<
ref>Freud 1991d [1905]: 149</ref></blockquote>
=The Two Fathers=
