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[[Image:Four-discourses.jpeg|200px|center]]
[[French]] [[psychoanalyst]] [[Jacques Lacan]] argued that there were '''four''' fundamental types of '''discourse'''.
These could be expressed as the permutations of a four-term configuration showing the relative positions of [[the subject]], the [[master signifier]], [[knowledge]] and [[objet petit a]]. The four types of discourse were: the [[Master]]'s, the [[University]]'s, the [[Hysteric]]'s, and the [[Analyst]]'s.
In his seminar "The [[Other]] Side of [[Psychoanalysis]]," [[Jacques lacan|Jacques Lacan ]] introduced four types of [[discourses]]. The discourses are the discourse of the master, the discourse of the hysteric, the discourse of the university, and the [[discourse of the analyst]]. They [[represent]] a [[matrix]] in which everything comes in fours. The discourses too are made up of four elements: S1, the master [[signifier]]; S2, knowledge; a, [[surplus]] [[enjoyment]]; and S̷, the [[subject]]. Their positions above and below the bar on either side of the diagram represent four different values or functions: the [[agent]], the [[other, the]] production, and [[truth]].
In this fourfold [[structure]], manipulating the minimal signifying [[chain]], S1fiS2, is both necessary and sufficient to represent [[The Subject|the subject]], S̷, in relation to both the [[big Other]] (the [[unconscious]]) and the small other (the [[object]] a as the object [[cause]] of [[desire]]) (Fig. 1).[[Figure|FIGURE ]] 1
FIGURE 1
In each discourse, the agent addresses an other, and the truth that the discourse seeks is attained through a certain production. Insofar as there is a connection between S1 and S2, between the [[Master-Signifier|master-signifier ]] and knowledge—a connection that depends on the essential mediation of speech—the subject is separated from the production of the discourse, and this results in a discourse that is always inadequate. In this [[case]] an unbridgeable gap separates the subject S̷ and the [[object a]].
If we take the discourse of the master as the starting point, the four [[terms]] generate each of the other discourses by making four successive ninety-degree turns in a clockwise direction. As each term takes the [[place]] of the agent, it assumes the dominant [[position]] and gives [[meaning]] and [[value]] to the discourse it generates. S1, the master-signifier, in the dominant position gives rise to discourse of the master. S2, knowledge, in that position produces discourse of the university. S̷, the subject, as agent leads to discourse of the hysteric. In this case, the symptomatic signifier affects and marks the subject so that the subject's [[body]] displays the [[symptom]] and speaks metaphorically in the place of the [[repressed]] signifier. And finally, a, the object of [[desire,]] in the dominant position produces discourse of the analyst. But it is not because [[analysis]] is the "[[science]] of desire" that the analyst has direct access to the [[Object A|object a]]. If the analyst can assume the place of the agent and thus to [[know]] something [[about]] the [[patient]]'s desire, it is only because the analyst is not duped into believing the agent's discourse. Something of the truth of the patient's desire has a [[chance]] to emerge within the framework of the [[treatment]] through the [[transference]] and by means of [[interpretation]].
These four different [[social]] bonds constitute what Lacan claims is an essential support for [[communication]]. The four discourses go beyond [[speech]], but "without going beyond [[language]]'s actual effects" (Lacan, 1998, p. 93).
[[Jacques Lacan]] argued that there were four fundamental types of [[discourse]].
These could be expressed as the permutations of a four-term configuration showing the relative positions of the subject, the [[Master Signifier|master signifier]], knowledge and [[objet]] [[petit a]].
The four types of discourse were: the Master's, the University's, the Hysteric's, and the Analyst's.
In this case an unbridgeable gap separates the subject S̷ and the object a.
If we take the discourse of the master as the starting point, the four terms generate each of the other discourses by making four successive ninety-degree turns in a clockwise direction. As each term takes the place of the agent, it assumes the dominant position and gives meaning and value to the discourse it generates. S1, the master-signifier, in the dominant position gives rise to discourse of the master. S2, knowledge, in that position produces discourse of the university. S̷, the subject, as agent leads to discourse of the hysteric. In this case, the symptomatic signifier affects and marks the subject so that the subject's body displays [[The Symptom|the symptom ]] and speaks metaphorically in the place of the repressed signifier. And finally, a, the [[object of desire]], in the dominant position produces discourse of the analyst. But it is not because analysis is the "science of desire" that the analyst has direct access to the object a. If the analyst can assume the place of the agent and thus to know something about the patient's desire, it is only because the analyst is not duped into believing the agent's discourse. Something of the truth of the patient's desire has a chance to emerge within the framework of the treatment through [[The Transference|the transference ]] and by means of interpretation.
These four different social bonds constitute what Lacan claims is an essential support for communication. The four discourses go beyond speech, but "without going beyond language's actual effects" (Lacan, 1998, p. 93).
# [[Lacan, Jacques]]. (1970). [[Radiophonie]]. [[Scilicet]], 2-3, 55-99.
# ——. (1991). Le séminaire, livre XVII: L'envers de la [[psychanalyse]] (1969-1970). [[Paris]]: Seuil.
# ——. (1998). On [[feminine]] [[sexuality]], the limits of [[love]] and knowledge: [[The Seminar|The seminar]], book XX, enco
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