| [[German]]: ''[[Imaginäre{{Bottom}}
=====Jacques Lacan=====
[[Lacan]]'s use of the term "[[imaginary]]" as a substantive dates back to 1936.<ref>{{Ec}} p. 81</ref>
=====Illusion=====
From the beginning, the term has connotations of illusion, fascination and seduction, and relates specifically to the [[dual relation]] between the [[ego]] and the [[specular image]].
It is important to note, however, that while the [[imaginary]] always retains connotations of [[illusion]] and [[lure]], it is not simply synonymous with "the illusory" insofar as the latter term implies something unnecessary and inconsequential.<ref>{{Ec}} p. 723</ref>
The [[imaginary]] is far from inconsequential; it has powerful effects in the [[real]], and is not simply something that can be dispensed with or "overcome".
=====Order=====
From 1953 on, the [[imaginary]] becomes one of the [[order|three orders]] which constitute the tripartite scheme at the centre of [[Lacan]]ian thought, being opposed to the [[symbolic]] and the [[real]].
=====Ego Formation=====
The basis of the [[imaginary|imaginary order]] continues to be the formation of the [[ego]] in the [[mirror stage]].
=====Identification=====
Since the [[ego]] is formed by [[identifying]] with the [[counterpart]] or [[specular image]], [[identification]] is an important aspect of the [[imaginary|imaginary order]].
The [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]] form the prototypical [[dual relation]]ship, and are interchangeable.
=====Alienation=====
This relationship whereby the [[ego]] is constituted by [[identification]] with the [[other|little other]] means that the [[ego]], and the [[imaginary|imaginary order]] itself, are both sites of a radical [[alienation]];
<blockquote>"Alienation is constitutive of the imaginary order."<ref>{{S3}} p. 146</ref></blockquote>
=====Narcissism=====
The [[dual relation]]ship between the [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]] is fundamentally [[narcissistic]], and [[narcissism]] is another characteristic of the [[imaginary|imaginary order]].
[[Narcissism]] is always accompanied by a certain [[aggressivity]].
=====Deception=====
The [[imaginary]] is the realm of image and imagination, [[truth|deception]] and [[lure]].
The principal illusions of the [[imaginary]] are those of [[gestalt|wholeness]], [[dialectic|synthesis]], [[autonomous ego|autonomy]], [[dual relation|duality]] and, above all, [[counterpart|similarity]].
=====Structure=====
The [[imaginary]] is thus the [[order]] of surface appearances which are deceptive, observable phenomena which hide underlying [[structure]]; the [[affect]]s are such phenomena.
However, the opposition between the [[imaginary]] and the [[symbolic]] does not mean that the [[imaginary]] is lacking in [[structure]].
On the contrary, the [[imaginary]] is always already [[structure]]d by the [[symbolic order]].
For example in his discussion of the [[mirror stage]] in 1949, [[Lacan]] speaks of the relations in [[imaginary]] space, which imply a [[symbolic]] [[structure|structuring]] of that space.<ref>{{E}} p. 1</ref>
The expression "[[imaginary|imaginary matrix]]" also implies an [[imaginary]] which is [[structure|structured]] by the [[symbolic]],<ref>{{Ec}} p. 221</ref> and in 1964 [[Lacan]] discusses how the visual field is [[structure|structured]] by [[symbolic]] [[law]]s.<ref>{{S11}} p. 91-2</ref>
=====Linguistic Dimension=====
The [[imaginary]] also involves a [[linguistics|linguistic dimension]].
Whereas the [[signifier]] is foundation of the [[symbolic order]], the [[signified]] and [[signification]] are part of [[imaginary|imaginary order]].
Thus [[language]] has both [[symbolic]] and [[imaginary]] aspects; in its [[imaginary]] aspect, [[language]] is the "wall of language" which inverts and distorts the [[discourse]] of the [[Other]].
=====Captation=====
The [[imaginary]] exerts a [[captation|captivating power]] over the [[subject]], founded in the almost hypnotic effect of the [[specular image]].
The [[imaginary]] is thus rooted in [[subject]]'s relationship to his own body (or rather to the [[image]] of his body).
This [[captation|captivating/capturing power]] is both [[seductive]] (the [[imaginary]] is manifested above all on the sexual plane, in such forms as sexual display and courtship rituals)<ref>{{L}} "[[Situation de la psychanalyse et formation du psychanalyste en 1956]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966 [1956b]: 272</ref> and disabling: it imprisons the [[subject]] in series of static fixations.
=====Nature=====
The [[imaginary]] is the dimension of the [[human]] [[subject]] which is most closely linked to ethology and animal psychology.<ref>{{S3}} p. 253</ref>
All attempts to explain [[human]] [[subjectivity]] in terms of animal psychology are thus limited to the [[imaginary]].
Although the [[imaginary]] represents the closest point of contact between [[human]] [[subjectivity]] and animal ethology,<ref>{{S2}} p. 166</ref> it is not simply identical; the [[imaginary|imaginary order]] in [[human]] [[being]]s is [[structure]]d by the [[symbolic]], and this means that "in man, the imaginary relation has deviated [from the realm of nature]."<ref>{{S2}} p. 210</ref>
=====Imagination=====
[[Lacan]] has a Cartesian mistrust of the [[imaginary|imagination]] as a cognitive tool.
He insists, like Descartes, on the supremacy of pure intellection, without dependence on images, as the only way of arriving at certain [[knowledge]].
It is this that lies behind Lacan's use of [[topology|topological figures]], which cannot be represented in the [[imaginary|imagination]], to explore the [[structure]] of the [[unconscious]].
This mistrust of the [[imaginary|imagination]] and the senses puts [[Lacan]] firmly the side of [[science|rationalism]] rather than [[science|empiricism]].
=====Imaginary Reductionism=====
[[Lacan]] accused the major [[school|psychoanalytic schools]] of his day of reducing [[psychoanalysis]] to the [[imaginary|imaginary order]]: these psychoanalysts made [[identification]] with the [[analyst]] into the goal of [[treatment|analysis]], and reduced [[treatment|analysis]] to a [[dual relation]]ship.<ref>{{E}} p. 246-7</ref>
[[Lacan]] sees this as a complete betrayal of [[psychoanalysis]], a deviation which can only eveer succeed in increasing the [[alienation]] of the [[subject]].
=====Symbolic in Analysis=====
Against such [[imaginary]] reductionism, [[Lacan]] argues that the essence of [[psychoanalysis]] consists in its use of the [[symbolic]].
This use of the [[symbolic]] is the only way to dislodge the disabling fixations of the [[imaginary]].
Thus the only way for the [[analyst]] to gain any purchase on the [[imaginary]] is by transforming the [[images]] into [[word]]s, just as [[Freud]] treats the [[dream]] as a rebus:
<blockquote>"The imaginary is decipherable only if it is rendered into [[symbol]]s."<ref>{{L}} "[[Situation de la psychanalyse et formation du psychanalyste en 1956]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966 [1956b]: 269</ref></blockquote>
This use of the [[symbolic]] is the only way for the [[treatment|analytic process]] "to cross the plane of identification."<ref>{{S11}} p. 273</ref>
=====See Also=====
__NOTOC__
{{Encore}}
:* [[Imaginary register]], 90, 95, 107, 133
:: [[object a]] and, 92-94
