Absence
The Symbolic Order
According to Jacques Lacan, the symbolic order is characterized by a binary opposition between absence and presence.[1]
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."[2]
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."[3]
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."[4]
Language
The symbol is used in the absence of the thing.
Lacan argues that the word is a "presence made of absence."[5]
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').[6]
Sexual Difference
Sexual difference is apprehended by the child symbolically around the presence and absence of the phallus.
See Also
References
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p.67-8
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.392
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.65
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.65
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p.184-5
