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The first point that should be noted is that Lacan draws a distinction between aggressivity and aggression, in that the latter refers only to [[violence|violent]] [[act]]s whereas the former is a fundamental relation which underlies not only such acts but many other phenomena also (.<ref>see Sl, 177). </ref>Thus aggressivity is just as present, Lacan argues, in apparently loving acts as in violent ones; it '"underlies the activity of the philanthropist, the idealist, the pedagogue, and even the reformer' (.<ref>E, 7). </ref>In taking this stance, Lacan is simply restating [[Freud]]'s concept of [[ambivalence ]] (the interdependence of [[love ]] and [[hate]]), which Lacan regards as one of the fundamental discoveries of [[psychoanalysis]].Lacan situates aggressivity in the [[dual relation ]] between the [[ego ]] and the [[counterpart]]. In the MIRROR STAGE[[mirror stage]], the [[infant ]] sees its reflection in the mirror as a wholeness, in contrast with the uncoordination in the [[real ]] [[body]]: this contrast is experienced as an aggressive tension between the [[specular image ]] and the real body, since the wholeness of the [[image ]] seems to threaten the body with disintegration and fragmentation (see FRAGMENTED BODY[[fragmented body]]).The consequent [[identification ]] with the specular image thus implies an ambivalent relation with the counterpart, involving both [[eroticism ]] and aggression. This 'erotic aggression' continues as a fundamental ambivalence underlying all future forms of identification, and is an essential characteristic of [[narcissism]]. Narcissism can thus easily veer from extreme self-love to the opposite extreme of 'narcissistic suicidal aggression' (''agression suicidaire narcissique'') (.<ref>Ec, 187).</ref>By linking aggressivity to the [[imaginary ]] [[order ]] of [[eros]], Lacan seems to diverge significantly from Freud, since Freud sees aggressivity as an outward manifestation of the [[death drive ]] (which is, in Lacanian terms, situated not in the imaginary but in the symbolic order). Aggressivity is also related by Lacan to the Hegelian [[Hegel]]ian concept of the [[fight to the death]], which is a stage in the [[dialectic ]] of the [[master ]] and the [[slave]].Lacan argues that it is important to bring the [[analysand]]'s aggressivity into play early in the treatment by causing it to emerge as negative [[transference]].This aggressivity directed towards the [[analyst ]] then becomes '"the initial knot of the analytic drama' (."<ref>E, 14). </ref>This phase of the [[treatment ]] is very important since if the aggressivity is handled correctly by the analyst, it will be accompanied by '"a marked decrease in the patient's deepest resistances' (.<ref>Lacan, 1951b: 13).</ref> ==References==<references/>