Changes

"[[father]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[père]]'')  From very early on in his [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]], [[Lacan]] lays great importance on the role of the [[father]] in [[psychic structure]]. In hi 1938 article on the family, he attributes the importance of the [[Oedipus complex]] to the fact that it combines in the figure of the [[father]] two almost conflicting functions: the protective function and the prohibitive function. He also points to the contemporary social decline in the paternal [[imago]] ===Father as the [[cause]] of current psychopathological peculiarities.<ref>Lacan. 1938. p.73.</ref> The father continues to be a constant theme of [[Lacan]]'s work thereafter.  ----Third Term===[[Lacan]]'s emphasis on the imporance importance of the [[father]] can be seen as a reaction against the tendency of [[Kleinian psychoanalysis]] and [[object-relations theory]] to [[place ]] the [[mother]]-[[child]] [[dual relation|relation]] at the heart of [[psychoanalytic theory]]. In opposition to this tendency, [[Lacan]] continually stresses the role of the [[father]] as a [[third ]] term who, by mediating the [[imaginary]] [[dual relation]]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]], saves the [[child]] from [[psychosis]] and makes possible an entry into [[social ]] [[existence]].  The [[father]] is thus more than a mere rival with whom the [[subject]] competes for for the [[mother]]'s [[love]]; he is the [[representative ]] of the social ordeer order as such, and only by [[identifying ]] with the [[father]] in the [[Oedipus complex]] can the [[subject]] gain entry into this [[order]].  The [[absence]] of the [[father]] is therefore an important factor in the aetiology of all psychopathological [[structurestreatment|psychopathological]]. --  However, the [[fatherstructures]] is not a simple concept but a complex one, one which begs the question of what exactly is meant by the term "father." [[Lacan]] argues that the question "What is a father?" forms the central theme which runs throughout [[Freud]]'s entire work.<ref>{{S4}} p.204-5</ref>

 <!--[[Lacan]] argues that the question "What is a father?" forms the central theme which runs throughout [[Freud]]'s entire work.<ref>{{S4}} p.204-     5</ref> -->

<blockquote>"The [[true]] function of the Father... is fundamentally to unite (and not to set in opposition) a desire and the Law."<ref>{{E}} p.321</ref></blockquote><!-- Although the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is not a real an actual [[beingsubject]] but a positionin the [[symbolic order]], a funciton[[subject]] may nevertheless come to occupy this position, and hence is synonymous with by virtue of exercising the term "[[paternal function]]. Nobody can ever occupy this position completely.<ref>{{S4}} p.205, 210, 219</ref> However, the [[symbolic]] [[father]] does not usually intervene by virtue of someone incarnating this function, but in a veiled fashion, for example by being mediated by the [[discourse]] of the [[mother]]."-->

This function The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is none other than that of imposing the fundamental element in the [[lawstructure]] and regulating of the [[desiresymbolic order]] in ; what distinguishes the [[Oedipus complexsymbolic order]], of intervening in [[culture]] from the [[imaginaryorder]] of [[dual relationnature]]ship between is the inscription of a line of [[mothermale]] descendence. The [[symbolic]] and [[childfather]] is also referred to introduce as the [[Name-of-the-Father]]. By [[structuring]] descendence into a necessary series of generations, patrilineality introduces an [[order]] "symbolic distancewhose structure is different from the [[natural]] order." between them.<ref>{{S4S3}} p.161320</ref> The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is also the [[dead]] [[father]], the [[father]] of the [[primal horde]] who has been murdered by his own sons. It is the [[absence]] of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] which characterizes the [[essence]] of the [[psychotic]] [[structure]].<!-- The [[presence]] of the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal]] [[imaginary|imaginary triangle]] indicates that the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is already functioning at the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal stage]]; behind the [[symbolic]] [[mother]], there is always the [[symbolic]] [[father]]. -->

==The Imaginary Father==The [[imaginary]] [[father]] is an [[imago]], the composite of all the [[imaginary]] constructs that the [[subject]] builds up in [[fantasy]] around the figure of the [[father]]. This [[imaginary]] [[construction]] often bears little [[relationship]] to the [[father]] as he is in [[reality]].<blockquoteref>{{S4}} p. 220</ref> The [[imaginary]] [[father]] can be construed as an ideal [[father]],<ref>{{S1}} p.156</ref><ref>{{E}} p.321</ref> or the opposite, as "The true function of the Fatherfather who has fucked the kid up."<ref>{{S7}} p.308</ref><!-- In the former guise, the [[imaginary]] [[father]] is the prototype of [[God]]-[[figures]] in [[religion]]s, an all-powerful protector. In the latter role, the [[imaginary]] [[father]] is fundamentally to unite (both the terrifying father of the [[primal horde]] who imposes the [[incest]] [[taboo]] on his sons,<ref>[[Freud]] 1912-3</ref> and not to set in opposition) the [[agent]] of [[privation]], the [[father]] whom the daughter blames for depriving her of the [[symbolic]] [[phallus]], or its equivalent, a desire and the Law[[child]]."<ref>{{ES4}} p.32198</ref> In both guises, though, whether as the [[ideal]] [[father]] or as the [[father|cruel]] [[father|agent]] of [[privation]], the [[imaginary]] [[father]] is seen as omnipotent.<ref>{{S4}} pp. 275-6</blockquoteref> -->[[Psychosis]] and [[perversion]] both involve, in different ways, a reduction of the [[father|symbolic father]] to the [[father|imaginary father]].

Although the ==[[symbolicThe Real]] Father== ===Agent of Castration===While [[fatherLacan]] is not an actual quite clear in defining what he means by the [[subjectfather|imaginary father]] but a osition in and the [[father|symbolic orderfather]], a his remarks on the [[subjectfather|real father]] may nevertheless come to occupy this position, by virtue of exercising the paternal function. Nobody can ever occupy this position completelyare quite obscure.<ref>{{S4}} p.205, 210, 219220</ref> However, the [[symbolicLacan]] 's only unequivocal formulation is that the [[father|real father]] does not usually intervene by virtue is the agent of someone incarnating this function[[castration]], but in a veiled fashion, for example by being mediated by the discourse one who performs the operation of the [[mothersymbolic]] [[castration]].<ref>{{S17}} p. 149</ref><ref> {{S7}} p. 307</ref>  <!--- The ===Biological Father=== Apart from this, [[symbolicLacan]] gives few other clues [[fatherabout]] is what he means by the fundamental element in phrase. In 1960, he describes the [[structurefather|real father]] of as the one who 'effectively occupies' the [[symbolic ordermother]]; what distinguishes , the "Great Fucker",<ref>{{S7}} p.307</ref> and even goes on to say, in 1970, that the [[symbolic orderfather|real father]] of is the spermatozoon, though he immediately qualifies this [[culturestatement]] from with the remark that nobody has ever [[imaginary orderthought]] of [[nature]] is himself as the inscription son of a line of male descendence. By structuring descendence into a series of generations, patrilineality introduces an [[order]] "Who structure is different from the natural orderspermatozoon."<ref>{{S3S17}} p.320148</ref> The [[symbolic]] On the basis of these comments, it seems possible to argue that the [[father|real father]] is also the [[deadbiological]] [[father]], of the [[fathersubject]] . However, since a degree of uncertainty always surrounds the [[primal horde]] question of who has been murdered by his own sons. The the [[symbolicbiological]] [[father]] really is also referred to as ('"pater semper incertus est", while the [[Name-of-the-Fathermother]]is "certissima"'; <ref>{{F}} 1909c. --  The [[presenceSE]] of IX, 239<ref> it would be more precise to say that the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal]] [imaginarysubject|imaginary triangle]] indicates that the [[symbolic]] [[real father]] is alreay functioning at the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal stage; behind man who is said to be the [[symbolicsubject]] 's [[motherbiological]], there is always the [[symbolicfather]] . The [[father|real father]]. The is thus an effect of [[sychoticlanguage]], however, doe snot even ge tthis far; indeed, and it is the in this [[absencesense]] of that the adjective [[symbolicreal]] is to be [[fatherunderstood]] which characteizes the essence of here: the [[psychotic]] [[structure]]. ==The Imaginary Father==The [[imaginaryreal]] of [[father]] is an [[imagolanguage]], the composite of all rather than the [[imaginaryreal]] constructs that the [[subject]] builds up in [[fantasy]] around the figure of the [[fatherbiology]].<ref>{{S17}} p.147-8</ref> -->

This ===Intervention in the Oedipus Complex===The [[imaginaryfather|real father]] construction often bears little relationship to plays a crucial role in the [[fatherOedipus complex]] as ; it is he is who intervenes in the third '[[time]]' of the [[Oedipus complex]] as the one who [reality[castrate]]s the child (see [[castration complex]]).<ref>{{S4}} p This [[intervention]] saves the child from the preceding [[anxiety]]; without it, the child requires a [[phobia|phobic]] [[object]] as a [[symbolic]] [[substitute]] for the [[absent]] [[father|real father]].220</ref>

<!-- The intervention of the [[imaginaryfather|real father]] as agent of [[fathercastration]] is not simply equivalent to his [[physical]] presence in the [[family]]. As the [[case]] can be construed as an ideal of [[fatherLittle Hans]]indicates,<ref>{{S1F}} p1909c.156'{{E}} p.321[[SE]] IX, 239</ref> or the opposite, [[father|real father]] may be physically [[present]] and yet fail to intervene as "the father who has fucked the kid upagent of [[castration]]."<ref>{{S7S4}} p.308212, 221</ref> Conversely, the intervention of the [[father|real father]] may well be felt by the [[child]] even when the [[father]] is physically [[absent]]. -->

In the former guise, the ==See Also=={{See}}* [[Castration complex]]* [[imaginaryDual relation]] ||* [[fatherForeclosure]] is * [[Name-of-the prototype of -Father]]||* [[GodPhallus]]-figures in * [[religionSuperego]]s, an all-powerful protector.{{Also}}

In the latter role, the [[imaginary]] [[father]] is both the terrifying father of the [[primal horde]] who imposes the [[incest]] [[taboo]] on his sons,==References==<refdiv style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">[[Freud]] 1912-3<references/ref> and the agent of [[privation]], the [[father]] whom the daughter blames for depriving her of the [[symbolic]] [[phallus]], or its equivalent, a [[child]].<ref>{{S4}} p.98</refdiv>

{{OK}}[[PsychosisCategory:Development]] and [[perversionCategory:Symbolic]] both involve, in different ways, a reduction of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] to the [[imaginary]] [[father]].{{KIDA}}