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{{Topp}}noeud borroméen{{Bottom}}
[[Image:Borromean.Knot.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Borromean knot]]
==Jacques Lacan==
[[Lacan]] used the [[concept]] or [[image]] of the [[borromean knot|knot]] quite frequently. References to [[knot]]s can be found in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]] as early as the 1950s,<ref> {{E}} p. 281</ref> but it is not until the ealy 1970s that [[Lacan]] begins to examine [[knot]]s from the point of view of their [[topology|topological properties]]. In the mid-1970s he tried to theorize the interrelation of the [[Symbolic]], the [[Imaginary]] and the [[Real]] in [[terms]] of the [[topology]] of [[borromean knot|knots]].
==Topology==
The study of "[[knot|knot theory]]" marks an important [[development]] in [[Lacan]]'s [[topology]]; from the study of surfaces (the [[moebius strip]], the [[torus]], etc.) [[Lacan]] moves to a much more [[complex]] area of the [[topology]] of [[knot]]s. [[Topology]] is increasingly seen as a radically [[metaphor|non-metaphorical]] way of exploring the [[symbolic order]] and its interactions with the [[imaginary]] and the [[real]]; rather than simply representing [[structure]], [[topology]] is that [[structure]].
==Knot==
In this late period of his [[work]], one kind of [[knot]] comes to interest [[Lacan]] more than any [[other]]: the [[Borromean knot]]. The [[Borromean knot]] -- shown to the [[right]] -- so called because the [[List of Figures|figure]] is found on the coat of arms of the Borromeo [[family]], is a group of [[three]] rings which are linked in such a way that if any one of [[them]] is severed, all three become separated.<ref>{{S20}} p. 112</ref>
==Chain==
Strictly [[speaking]], it would be more appropriate to refer to this [[figure]] as a [[chain]] rather than a [[knot]], since it involves the interconnection of several different threads, whereas a [[knot]] is formed by a single thread. Although a minimum of three threads or rings are required to [[form]] a [[Borromean knot|Borromean chain]], there is no maximum [[number]]; the [[chain]] may be extended indefinitely by adding further rings, while still preserving its [[Borromean knot|Borromean]] quality (i.e. if any of the rings is cut, the [[whole]] chain falls apart).
==Three Orders==
[[Lacan]] first takes up the [[Borromean knot]] in the [[seminar]] of 1972-3, but his most detailed [[discussion]] of the [[knot]] comes in the [[seminar]] of 1974-5. It is in this [[seminar]] that [[Lacan]] uses the [[Borromean knot]] as, among other things, a way of illustrating the interdependence of the [[order|three order]]s of the [[real]], the [[symbolic]] and the [[imaginary]], as a way of exploring what it is that these [[order|three order]]s have in common. Each ring represents one of the [[order|three order]]s, and thus certain elements can be located at intersections of these rings. (In his view these [[orders]] are tied together in the form of a "Borromean knot". The "Borromean knot" is a linkage of three "string rings" in such a way that no two rings intersect. The structure of the knot is such that the cutting of any one ring will liberate all of the [[others]]. [[Lacan]] used the [[theory]] of knots to stress the relations which [[bind]] or link the [[Imaginary]], [[Symbolic]] and [[Real]], and the [[subject]] to each, in a way which avoids any [[notion]] of hierarchy, or any priority of any one of the three terms.)
==Psychosis==
In the [[seminar]] of 1975-6, [[Lacan]] goes on to describe [[psychosis]] as the unravelling of the [[Borromean knot]], and proposes that in some cases this is prevented by the addition of a fourth ring, the ''[[sinthome]]'', which holds the other three together.
==See Also==
{{See}}
* ''[[Extimacy]]''
* [[Imaginary]]
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* [[Moebius strip]]
* [[Order]]
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* [[Psychosis]]
* [[Real]]
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* ''[[Sinthome]]''
* [[Structure]]
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* [[Subject]]
* [[Symbolic]]
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* [[Torus]]
* [[Topology]]
{{Also}}
==References==
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Figures]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Terms]]
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