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"{{Top}}père{{Bottom}}[[Image:Kida_f.gif|right|frame|[[Kid A In Alphabet Land]]]]==Jacques Lacan=====History===From very early on in his [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]], [[Lacan]] lays great importance on the [[role]] of the [[father]]" (in [[Frpsychic structure]]. In his 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 metaphor|paternal]] [[imago]] as the [[cause]] of current [[treatment|psychopathological]] peculiarities.<ref>{{1938}} p. 73</ref> The [[pèrefather]] continues to be a constant theme of [[Lacan]]'')s [[work]] thereafter.

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>

The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is not a real [[being]] but a position, a funciton, and hence is synonymous with the term "paternal function." This function is none other than that of imposing the [[law]] and regulating [[desire]] in the [[Oedipus complex]], of intervening in the [[imaginary]] [[dual relation]]ship between [[mother]] and [[child]] to introduce a necessary "symbolic distance" between them.<ref>{{S4}} p.161</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 an actual [[subject]] but a osition position in the [[symbolic order]], a [[subject]] may nevertheless come to occupy this position, by virtue of exercising the [[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]]. -->

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]]. --- The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is the fundamental element in the [[structure]] of the [[symbolic order]]; what distinguishes the [[symbolic order]] of [[culture]] from the [[imaginary order]] of [[nature]] is the inscription of a line of [[male ]] descendence.  The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is also referred to as the [[Name-of-the-Father]]. By [[structuring ]] descendence into a series of generations, patrilineality introduces an [[order]] "Who whose structure is different from the [[natural ]] order."<ref>{{S3}} p.320</ref>  The [[symbolic]] [[father]] is also the [[dead]] [[father]], the [[father]] of the [[primal horde]] who has been murdered by his own sons. The It is the [[absence]] of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is also referred to as which characterizes the [[Name-essence]] of-the-Father[[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 alreay already functioning at the [[preoedipal phase|preoedipal stage]]; behind the [[symbolic]] [[mother]], there is always the [[symbolic]] [[father]]. The [[sychotic], however, doe snot even ge tthis far; indeed, it is the [[absence]] of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] which characteizes the essence of the [[psychotic]] [[structure]].-->

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]].<ref>{{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 father 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 both the terrifying father of the [[primal horde]] who imposes the [[incest]] [[taboo]] on his sons,<ref>[[Freud]] 1912-3</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</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</ref> -->[[Psychosis]] and [[perversion]] both involve, in different ways, a reduction of the [[father|symbolic father]] to the [[father|imaginary father]].

In ==[[The Real]] Father== ===Agent of Castration===While [[Lacan]] is quite clear in defining what he means by the [[father|imaginary father]] and the latter role[[father|symbolic father]], his remarks on the [[imaginaryfather|real father]] are quite obscure.<ref>{{S4}} p. 220</ref> [[Lacan]] 's only unequivocal formulation is that the [[father|real father]] is both the terrifying father agent of [[castration]], the one who performs the operation of [[primal hordesymbolic]] who imposes [[castration]].<ref>{{S17}} p. 149</ref><ref> {{S7}} p. 307</ref> <!-- ===Biological Father=== Apart from this, [[Lacan]] gives few other clues [[about]] what he means by the phrase. In 1960, he describes the [[incestfather|real father]] as the one who 'effectively occupies' the [[taboomother]] on his sons,the "Great Fucker",<ref>{{S7}} p.307</ref>and even goes on to say, in 1970, that the [[father|real father]] is the spermatozoon, though he immediately qualifies this [[statement]] with the remark that nobody has ever [[Freudthought]] 1912-3of himself as the son of a spermatozoon.<ref>{{S17}} p.148</ref> and On the basis of these comments, it seems possible to argue that the [[father|real father]] is the agent [[biological]] [[father]] of the [[privationsubject]]. However, since a degree of uncertainty always surrounds the question of who the [[biological]] [[father]] whom really is ('"pater semper incertus est", while the daughter blames for depriving her [[mother]] is "certissima"'; <ref>{{F}} 1909c. [[SE]] IX, 239<ref> it would be more precise to say that the [[subject|real father]] is the man who is said to be the [[subject]]'s [[biological]] [[father]]. The [[father|real father]] is thus an effect of [[language]], and it is in this [[sense]] that the adjective [[real]] is to be [[understood]] here: the [[symbolicreal]] of [[phalluslanguage]], or its equivalent, a rather than the [[real]] of [[childbiology]].<ref>{{S4S17}} p.98147-8</ref> -->

In both guises, though, whether ===Intervention in the Oedipus Complex===The [[father|real father]] plays a crucial role in the [[Oedipus complex]]; it is he who intervenes in the third '[[time]]' of the [[Oedipus complex]] as the one who [[idealcastrate]] s the child (see [[fathercastration complex]]). This [[intervention]] saves the child from the preceding [[anxiety]] or as ; without it, the child requires a [[fatherphobia|cruelphobic]] [[father|agentobject]] as a [[symbolic]] of [[privationsubstitute]], for the [[imaginaryabsent]] [[father|real father]] is seen as omnipotent.<ref>{{S4}} p.275-6</ref>

[[Psychosis]] and [[perversion]] both involve, in different ways, a reduction <!-- The intervention of the [[symbolic]] [[father]] to the [[imaginary]] [[|real father]].  ==The real father== While Lacan is quite clear in defining what he means by the imaginary father and the symbolic father, his remarks on the real father are quite obscure.<ref>{{S4}} p.220</ref> Lacan's only unequivocal formulation is that the real father is the as agent of castration, the one who performs the operation of symbolic castration.<ref>{{S17}} p.149; {{S7}} p.307</ref>  Apart from this, Lacan gives few other clues about what he means by the phrase.  In 1960, he describes the real father as the one who 'effectively occupies' the mother, the 'Great Fucker',<ref>{{S7}} p.307</ref> and even goes on to say, in 1970, that the real father is the spermatozoon, though he immediately qualifies this statement with the remark that nobody has ever thought of himself as the son of a spermatozoon.<ref>{{S17}} p.148</ref>  On the basis of these comments, it seems possible to argue that the real father is the biological father of the subject.  However, since a degree of uncertainty always surrounds the question of who the biological father really is ('"pater semper incertus est", while the mother is "certissima"'; <ref>{{F}} 1909c. [[SE]] IX, 239<ref> it would be more precise to say that the real father is the man who is said to be the subject's biological father.  The real father is thus an effect of language, and it is in this sense that the adjective real is to be understood here: the real of language, rather than the real of biology.<ref>{{S17}} p.147-8</ref> ---  The real father plays a crucial role in the Oedipus complex; it is he who intervenes in the third 'time' of the Oedipus complex as the one who castrates the child (see [[castration complex]]).  This intervention saves the child from the preceding anxiety; without it, the child requires a phobic object as a symbolic substitute for the absent real father.  The intervention of the real father as agent of castration is not simply equivalent to his [[physical ]] presence in the [[family]].   As the [[case ]] of [[Little Hans ]] indicates,<ref>{{F}} 1909c. [[SE]] IX, 239<ref> the [[father|real father ]] may be physically [[present ]] and yet fail to intervene as agent of [[castration]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 212, 221</ref>  Conversely, the intervention of the [[father|real father ]] may well be felt by the [[child ]] even when the [[father ]] is physically [[absent]].-->

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