Difference between revisions of "Graph of desire"

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The "[[graph of desire]]" is a [[topology|topographical representation]] - [[topology|schema]] or [[topology|model]] - of the [[structure]] of [[desire]].
 
 
The [[graph of desire]] is a conceptual tool from the [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic theory]] of [[Jacques Lacan]].
 
 
The [[graph of desire]] is a [[topology|topological representation]] of the [[structure]] of [[desire]].
 
 
The [[graph of desire]] is a [[topology|topological]] [[matheme|schema]] of the [[structure]] of the constitution of the [[human]] [[subject]] and its [[desire]].
 
 
==History==
 
The [[graph of desire]] was first porposed in a 1960 colloquium, and was later published in the ''[[Ecrits]]''.
 
 
The [[graph of desire]] is a schema, or model, that [[Jacques Lacan]] began developing in his [[seminar]] on [[Seminar V|The Formations of the Unconscious]].<ref>{{LB}} [[Seminar V|The Formations of the Unconscious]]. [[{{Y}}|1957]]-[[{{Y}}|58]]</ref>
 
 
The [[graph of desire]] was gradually developed by [[Lacan]] in the course of two successive [[seminars]]: [[Seminar V|The Formations of the Unconscious]] and [[Seminar VI|Desire and its Interpretation]].
 
 
[[Lacan]] first develops the [[graph of desire]] in [[Seminar V|the seminar of 1957-8]] in order to illustrate the [[psychoanalytic theory]] of [[joke]]s.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious]]," 1905. [[SE]] VIII.</ref>
 
 
The [[graph of desire|graph]] reappears in some of the following [[seminars]], but then all but disappears from [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
 
 
He refers to the basic schema once again in "[[The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious]]."
 
 
It achieved its definitive form in his essay "[[The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious]]."<ref>{{LB}} "[[The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious]]." 1960</ref>
 
 
The [[graph of desire|graph]] appears in various forms, although the most well known form of it appears in "[[The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious]]."<ref>[[Lacan, Jacques]]. "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Subversion du sujet et dialectique du désir dans l'inconscient freudien]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.793-827. "[[The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious]]." [[Ecrits: A Selection]]. Trans. Alan Sheridan. Bruce Fink. London: Tavistock. 1977. New York: W. W. Norton. 2004. p.292-325</ref>
 
 
==Graph==
 
It depends on ideas developed originally in Lacan's Schema R, a graph in which fundamental organizing sturctures of the human mind are shown in a schematic relationship to the registers which in turn structure human reality: the [[imaginary]], the [[symbolic]] and the [[real]].
 
 
The [[graph of desire]] is a 'flattened' representation of a [[signifying chain]] as it crosses a pathway [[Lacan]] called a vector of [[desire].
 
 
It appears as two curved lines which cross one another at two separate points.
 
 
Each line has a symbolic meaning.
 
 
==Development==
 
[[Lacan]] builds up the [[graph of desire]] in four stages.
 
 
Its four successive stages represent the constitution of the [[human]] [[subject]] and his [[desire]].
 
 
The stages of the graph of desire are not meant to show any evolution or temporal development, since the graph always exists as a whole.
 
 
Nevertheless, [[Lacan]] never intended to describe the [[biology|genetic]] [[development|stages]] of a [[biology|biological]] [[development]].
 
 
Rather, it represents the "[[time|logical moments]]" of the [[development|birth]] of a [[speech|speaking]] [[subject]].
 
 
 
 
 
===Elementary Cell===
 
[[Image:Lacan-graph-elementary.jpg|Elementary Cell|thumb|right|200px]]
 
The first of these stages in the "[[graph of desire|elementary cell]]" of the [[graph of desire|graph]].<ref>{{E}} p.303</ref>
 
 
The horizontal line represents the [[diachronic]] [[signifying chain]]; the horseshoe-shaped line represents the vector of the [[subject]]'s [[intention]]ality.
 
 
The double intersection of these two lines illustrates the nature of [[time|retroaction]]: the message, at the point marked '''s(A)''' in the [[graph of desire|elementary cell]], is the ''[[point de capiton]]'' determined [[time|retroactively]] by the particular [[punctuation]] given to it by the [[Other]], '''A'''.
 
 
The [[linguistic|prelinguistic]] mythical [[subject]] of pure [[need]], indicated by the triangle, must pass through the defiles of the [[signifier]] which produces the [[divided]] [[subject]], '''$'''.
 
 
===Intermediate Stages===
 
The intermediate stages of the [[graph of desire]] are not meant to show any [[progress|evolution]] or [[development|temporal development]], since the [[graph of desire|graph]] always exists as a whole; they are simply pedagogical devices used by [[Lacan]] in order to illustrate the [[structure]] of the [[graph of desire|complete graph]].<ref>{{E}} p.315</ref>
 
 
Nevertheless, [[Lacan]] never intended to describe the genetic stages of a [[biological]] [[development]].
 
 
Rather, it represents the "logical moments" of the birth of a [[speaking]] [[subject]].
 
 
===Complete Graph===
 
[[Image:Lacan-graph-complete.jpg|Complete Graph|thumb|right|200px]]
 
 
In the [[graph of desire|complete graph]] there are not one but two [[signifying chain]]s.
 
 
The lower [[chain]] (from the [[signifier]] to the [[voice]]) is the [[conscious]] [[signifying chain]], the level of the [[statement]].
 
 
The upper [[chain]] (from ''[[jouissance]]'' to [[castration]]) is the [[signifying chain]] in the [[unconscious]], the level of the [[enunciation]].
 
 
The [[structure]] is thus duplicated: the upper part of the [[graph]] is structured exactly like the lower part.
 
  
  

Revision as of 10:42, 19 October 2006