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Duality and  The [[dual relations are essential characteristics relation]] is ([[French]]:''relation duelle'') a basic feature of the [[imaginary]] [[order]].  The paradigmatic [[dual relation ]] is the relation between the [[ego]] and the [[specular image]] (a and a') which [[Lacan]] analyzes in his concept of the [[mirror stage]].  The [[dual relation ]] is always characterised by illusions [[illusion]]s of similarity, symmetry and reciprocity.  In contrast to the [[duality ]] of the [[imaginary ]] [[order]], the [[symbolic]] [[order]] is characterised by [[triad]]s.  In the [[symbolic ]] [[order ]] all relations involve not two but three terms; the third term is the [[big Other]], which mediates all [[imaginary ]] [[dual relationsrelation]]s.  The [[illusion ]] of reciprocity in the [[imaginary ]] [[dual relationship relation]]ship contrasts with the [[symbolic]], which is the realm of 'absolute non-reciprocity.'<ref>Ec, 774</ref> The [[Oedipus complex]] is the paradigmatic triangular [[structure]], since the [[Fatherfather]] is introduced into the [[dual relation ]] between [[mother]] and [[child]] as a third term.  The Oedipal passage from a [[dual relation ]] to a triangular [[structure ]] is none other than the passage from the [[imaginary ]] to the [[symbolic ]] [[order]].  

    The opposition between [[imaginary]] [[dyad]]s and [[symbolic]] [[triad]]s is complicated by [[Lacan]]'s discussion of the '[[imaginary triad]].'<ref>E, 197; S4, 29</ref>The [[imaginary ]] [[triad ]] is [[Lacan]]'s attempt to theorise the [[preoedipal stage]] in terms other than those of a merely dual relationship, and refers to the moment preceding the [[Oedipus complex]], when a third element (the [[imaginary phallus]]) circulates between the [[mother]] and [[infant]]. When the [[father]] intervenes in the [[Oedipus complex]] he can therefore be seen either as a third element (between [[mother]] and [[child]]) or as a fourth element (in addition to [[mother]], [[child ]] and [[phallus]]).It is for this reason that Lacan writes that in the [[Oedipus complex ]] "it is not a question of a father-mother-child triangle, but of a triangle (father)-phallus-mother-child."<ref>S3, 319</ref> 

In particular, it reduces analytic [[treatment]] to an ego-to-ego encounter which, because of the [[aggressivity]] inherent in all [[imaginary ]] [[dual relationsrelation]]s, often degenerates into a '[[fight to the death]]' between [[analyst ]] and [[analysand]], a power struggle in which they are 'at daggers drawn.'<ref>see [[Master]]</ref> Against such a misconception, Lacan insists on the function of the [[symbolic ]] in the analytic process, which introduces the [[Other]] as the third term in the analytic encounter.

For example instead of the traditional binary opposition between what is [[real ]] and what is [[imaginary]], [[Lacan ]] proposes a tripartite model of [[real]], [[imaginary]] and [[symbolic]].