Changes

The literal meaning of this Greek term is '''disappearance'''.   It was first introduced into [[psychoanalysis]] by [[Ernest Jones]], who uses it to mean "the [[disappearance]] of [[sexual]] [[desire]]."<ref>Jones, Ernest. 1927. "Early Development of Female Sexuality" in ''Papers on Psychoanalysis'' (5th edn), Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1948.</ref> For Jones, the [[fear]] of [[aphanisis]] exists in both [[sex]]es, giving rise to the [[castration complex]] in [[male|boys]] and to [[penis envy]] in [[female|girls]].

[[Lacan]] takes up Jones's term, but modifies it substantially.   For [[Lacan]], ''[[aphanisis]]'' does not mean the [[disappearance]] of [[desire]], but the [[disappearance]] of the [[subject]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 208</ref>  The ''[[aphanisis]]'' of the [[subject]] is the [[fading]] of the [[subject]], the fundamental [[division]] -- or [[split]] -- of the [[subject]] which institutes the [[dialectic]] of [[desire]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 221</ref>

[[Lacan]] also uses another term, "[[fading]]," in a way that makes it synonymous with the term ''[[aphanisis]]''.   [[Fading]] (a term which [[Lacan]] uses directly in [[English]]) refers to the [[disappearance]] of the [[subject]] in the process of [[alienation]].