Difference between revisions of "Absence"

From No Subject - Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 6: Line 6:
 
==Symbolic==
 
==Symbolic==
  
The [[symbolic order]] is characterized by a binary opposition between [[absence]] and [[presence]].<ref>{{S4}} p.67-8</ref>
+
The [[symbolic order]] is characterized by a binary opposition between [[absence]] and '''presence'''.<ref>{{S4}} p.67-8</ref>
  
In the [[symbolic order]] "nothing exists except upon an assumed foundation of absence."<ref>{{Ec}} p.392</ref>
+
In the [[symbolic order]] "nothing exists except upon an assumed foundation of [[absence]]."<ref>{{Ec}} p.392</ref>
  
  

Revision as of 04:21, 30 July 2006

"Absence"

(Fr. absence)


Symbolic

The symbolic order is characterized by a binary opposition between absence and presence.[1]

In the symbolic order "nothing exists except upon an assumed foundation of absence."[2]


Real

This is a basic difference between the symbolic and the real.

"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."[3]


Word

Lacan notes that the symbol -- or word -- is "a presence made of absence" because:

  1. the symbol is used in the absence of the thing and
  2. signifiers only exist insofar as they are opposed to other signifiers.[4]


Word

Lacan notes that the symbol -- or word -- is "a presence made of absence" because:

  1. the symbol is used in the absence of the thing and
  2. signifiers only exist insofar as they are opposed to other signifiers.[5]







See Also


References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p.67-8
  2. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.392
  3. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book II. The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-55. Trans. Sylvana Tomaselli. New York: Nortion; Cambridge: Cambridge Unviersity Press, 1988. p.313
  4. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.65
  5. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.65