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[[Aggressivity]] ([[Fr]]. ''[[{{Topp}}agressivité]]'') is one of the central issues that [[Lacan]] deals with in his papers in the period 1936 to the early 1950s. {{Bottom}}

==AggressionJacques Lacan==[[Aggressivity]] is one of the central issues that [[Lacan]] deals with in his papers in the period 1936 to the early 1950s.

==Ambivalence==[[Lacan]] draws a [[distinction ]] between [[aggressivity ]]and [[aggressivity|aggression]]: [[aggressivity|aggression]] refers only to [[violence|violent]] [[act]]s whereas [[aggressivity]] is a fundamental relation which underlies not only such [[acts]] but many [[other]] phenomena also.<ref>{{S1}} p. 177</ref> [[Lacan]] argues that [[aggressivity]] is just as [[present]] in apparently [[love|loving]] [[act]]s as in violent ones; it "underlies the [[activity]] of the philanthropist, the idealist, the pedagogue, and even the reformer.<ref>{{E}} p. 7</ref> [[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]].

==Dual Relation==[[AggressionLacan]] refers only situates [[aggressivity]] in the [[dual relation]] between the [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]]. In the [[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 [[aggressivity|aggressive tension]] between the [[specular image]] and the [[real]] [[body]], since the [[wholeness]] of the [[image]] seems to threaten the [[violence|violentbody]] with [[actfragmented body|disintegration]]s whereas and [[aggressivityfragmentation]] is a fundamental relation which underlies not only such acts but many other phenomena also.<ref>{{S1}} p.177</ref>

==Narcissism== The consequent [[Lacanidentification]] argues that with the [[specular image]] thus implies an [[ambivalence|ambivalent]] relation with the [[counterpart]], involving both [[eroticism]] and [[aggressivity|aggression]]. This "[[aggressivity|erotic aggression]] is just " continues as present in apparently loving acts as in violent ones; it "underlies the activity a fundamental [[ambivalence]] underlying all [[future]] forms of the philanthropist, the idealist, the pedagogue[[identification]], and even is an essential characteristic of [[narcissism]]. [[Narcissism]] can thus easily veer from extreme [[love|self-love]] to the reformeropposite extreme of "[[narcissism|narcissistic suicidal aggression]]" (''[[agression]] suicidaire narcissique'').<ref>{{EEc}} p.7187</ref>

[[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]], 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]]). ---  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}} p.187</ref> --==Imaginary==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 [[Lacan]]ian [[terms]], situated not in the [[imaginary ]] but in the [[symbolic ]] [[order]]).  [[Aggressivity]] is also related by [[Lacan]] to the [[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>