Difference between revisions of "Code"

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The term '[[code]]' derives from [[Roman Jakobson]]'s theory of [[communication]].
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{{Top}}codes|code{{Bottom}}
  
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[[Jakobson]] presents his opposition 'code vs message' as an equivalent of [[Saussure]]'s ''[[langue]]'' vs ''[[parole]]''.
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=====Roman Jakobson=====
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[[Lacan]] borrows the term "[[code]]" from [[Roman Jakobson]]'s [[theory]] of [[communication]].  
  
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However, [[Lacan]] draws an important distinction between the concepts of [[language]] and [[code]].<ref>{{E}} p84</ref>
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[[Jakobson]] presents his opposition "[[code]] vs [[message]]" as an equivalent of [[Saussure]]'s ''[[langue]]'' vs ''[[parole]]''.
  
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[[Code]]s are the province of [[animal]] [[communication]], not of [[intersubjective communication]].  
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=====Jacques Lacan=====
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=====Code and Language=====
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However, [[Lacan]] draws an important [[distinction]] between the [[concepts]] of [[language]] and [[code]].<ref>{{E}} p. 84</ref>
  
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Whereas the elements of a [[language]] are [[signifier]]s, the elements of a [[code]] are ''[[indices]]''.
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[[Code]]s are the province of [[animal]] [[communication]], not of [[intersubjectivity|intersubjective]] [[communication]].
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=====Index and Signifier=====
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Whereas the elements of a [[language]] are [[signifier]]s, the elements of a [[code]] are [[indices]].
 
   
 
   
 
The fundamental difference is that there is a fixed bi-univocal (one-to-one) relationship between an [[index]] and its [[referent]], whereas there is no such relationship between a [[signifier]] and a [[referent]] or between a [[signifier]] and a [[signified]].  
 
The fundamental difference is that there is a fixed bi-univocal (one-to-one) relationship between an [[index]] and its [[referent]], whereas there is no such relationship between a [[signifier]] and a [[referent]] or between a [[signifier]] and a [[signified]].  
  
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Because of the bi-univocal relation of [[indices]] and [[referent]]s, [[code]]s lack what [[Lacan]] regards as the fundamental feature of [[human]] [[language]]s: the potential for ambiguity and equivocation.<ref>Lacan, 1973b</ref>
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=====Ambiguity and Equivocation=====
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Because of the bi-univocal relation of [[indices]] and [[referent]]s, [[code]]s [[lack]] what [[Lacan]] regards as the fundamental feature of [[human]] [[language]]s: the potential for ambiguity and equivocation.<ref>{{L}} (1973b) "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|L'Étourdit]]", ''[[Scilicet]]'', no. 4, 1973. pp. 5-52</ref>
  
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<ref>Lacan is not always consistent in maintaining this opposition between code and language. In the seminar of 1958-9, for example, when presenting the elementary cell of the [[graph of desire]], he designates one point as the code, which he also designates as the place of the Other and the battery of signifiers. In this case, it is clear that the term 'code' is being used in the same sense as the term 'language', namely, to designate the set of signifiers available to the subject.</ref>
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[[Lacan]] is not always consistent in maintaining this opposition between [[code]] and [[language]].  
  
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==Message==
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In the [[seminar]] of 1958-9, for example, when presenting the [[elementary cell]] of the [[graph of desire]], he designates one point as the [[code]], which he also designates as the [[place]] of the [[Other]] and the battery of [[signifier]]s.
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[[Of Structure as an Inmixing of an Otherness Prerequisite to Any Subject Whatever]]
 
  
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Somebody spent some time this afternoon trying to convince me that it would surely not be a [[pleasure]] for an English-speaking audience to listen to my bad accent and that for me to speak in [[English]] would constitute a risk for what one might call the transmission of my [[message]].  Truly, for me it is a great case of [[conscience]], because to do otherwise would be absolutely contrary to my own concept of the [[message]]: of the [[message]] as I will explain it to you, of the [[linguistic]] [[message]]. Many people talk nowadays about messages everywhere, inside the organism a hormone is a message, a beam of light to obtain teleguidance to a plane or from a satellite is a message, and so on; but the [[message]] in [[language]] is absolutely different. The message, our message, in all cases comes from the [[Other]] by which I understand "from the place of the Other."  It certainly is not the common [[little other|other]], the [[little other| other]] with a lower-case <i>o</i>, and this is why I have given a capital <i>O</i> as the initial letter to the [[Other]] of whom I am now speaking.
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In this [[case]], it is clear that the term "[[code]]" is [[being]] used in the same [[sense]] as the term "[[language]]," namely, to designate the set of [[signifier]]s available to the [[subject]].
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==
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{{See}}
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* [[Communication]]
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* [[Index]]
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* [[Intersubjectivity]]
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* [[Language]]
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* [[Signified]]
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* [[Signifier]]
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{{Also}}
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
 
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Latest revision as of 04:11, 24 May 2019

French: code
Roman Jakobson

Lacan borrows the term "code" from Roman Jakobson's theory of communication.

Jakobson presents his opposition "code vs message" as an equivalent of Saussure's langue vs parole.

Jacques Lacan
Code and Language

However, Lacan draws an important distinction between the concepts of language and code.[1]

Codes are the province of animal communication, not of intersubjective communication.

Index and Signifier

Whereas the elements of a language are signifiers, the elements of a code are indices.

The fundamental difference is that there is a fixed bi-univocal (one-to-one) relationship between an index and its referent, whereas there is no such relationship between a signifier and a referent or between a signifier and a signified.

Ambiguity and Equivocation

Because of the bi-univocal relation of indices and referents, codes lack what Lacan regards as the fundamental feature of human languages: the potential for ambiguity and equivocation.[2]

Lacan is not always consistent in maintaining this opposition between code and language.

In the seminar of 1958-9, for example, when presenting the elementary cell of the graph of desire, he designates one point as the code, which he also designates as the place of the Other and the battery of signifiers.

In this case, it is clear that the term "code" is being used in the same sense as the term "language," namely, to designate the set of signifiers available to the subject.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 84
  2. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. (1973b) "L'Étourdit", Scilicet, no. 4, 1973. pp. 5-52


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