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[[Lacan]]'s use of the term "[[imaginary]]" as a substantive dates back to 1936.<ref>{{Ec}} p. 81</ref> The term relates to the [[dual relation]] between the [[ego]] and the [[specular image]]. 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]]. 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.
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]].
==DeceptionImage==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]].
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.
==NaturePsychology==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>
==Imaginary ReductionismCriticism==
[[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]].
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[[Category:Imaginary]]
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