== The Symbolic Order ==
According to [[Jacques Lacan]],
The [[symbolic order]] is characterized by a binary opposition between [[absence]] and [[presence]].<ref>{{S4}} p.67-8</ref>
[[Lacan]] asserts the mutual implication of [[absence]] and [[presence]] in the [[symbolic]] [[order]].
In the [[symbolic order]] "nothing exists except upon an assumed foundation of absence."<ref>{{Ec}} p.392</ref>
[[Lacan]] argues that "there is no absence in the real. There is only absence if you suggest that there may be a presence there where there isn't one."<ref>{{S2}} p.313</ref>
As [[Roman Jakobson showed with his analysis ofphonemes, all linguistic phenomena may be netirely characterized in terms of the presence or absence of certain distinctive features.
== Fort-Da ==
According to [[Lacan]], the game of [[fort-da]], introduced by [[Freud]] in "[[Beyond the Pleasure Principle," represents the [[child]]'s entrance into the [[symbolic]] [[order]].
The phonemic opposition - "fort" and "da" - are "a pair of sounds modulated on presence and absence."<ref>{{E}} p.65</ref>
== Language ==
The [[symbol]] is used in the [[absence]] of the thing.
[[Lacan]] argues that the [[word]] is a "presence made of absence."<ref>{{E}} p.65</ref>
[[Absence]] has a positive [[existence]] in the [[symbolic]] as [[presence]].
[[Lacan]] argues that "the nothing" (''le rien'') is in itself an [[object]] (or '[[partial object]]').<ref>{{S4}} p.184-5</ref>
== Sexual Difference==
[[Sexual difference]] is apprehended by the [[child]] [[symbolic]]ally around the [[presence]] and [[absence]] of the [[phallus]].
==See Also==
* [[symbolic]]
* [[presence]]
* [[object]]
* [[fort-da]]
* [[child]]
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Symbolic]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]