Difference between revisions of "Lack"

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"[[Lack]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[manque]]'')
 
"[[Lack]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[manque]]'')
  
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However, the precise nature of what is [[lack]]ing varies over the course of [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
 
However, the precise nature of what is [[lack]]ing varies over the course of [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
  
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===Lack of Being===
  
 
When the term first appears, in 1955, [[lack]] designates first and foremost a [[lack]] of [[being]].
 
When the term first appears, in 1955, [[lack]] designates first and foremost a [[lack]] of [[being]].
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<blockquote>Desire is a relation of being to lack.  The lack is the lack of being properly speaking.  It isn't the lack of this or that, but lack of being whereby the being exists."<ref>{{S2}} p.223</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>Desire is a relation of being to lack.  The lack is the lack of being properly speaking.  It isn't the lack of this or that, but lack of being whereby the being exists."<ref>{{S2}} p.223</ref></blockquote>
 
  
 
[[Lacan]] returns to this theme in 1958, when he argues that [[desire]] is the [[metonymy]] of the [[lack]] of [[being]] (''manque à être''; translated by Sheridan as "want-to-be").<ref>{{E}} p.259</ref>
 
[[Lacan]] returns to this theme in 1958, when he argues that [[desire]] is the [[metonymy]] of the [[lack]] of [[being]] (''manque à être''; translated by Sheridan as "want-to-be").<ref>{{E}} p.259</ref>
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[[Lacan]] contrasts the [[lack]] of [[being]], which relates to [[desire]], with the [[lack]] of having (''manque à avoir''), which relates to [[demand]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.730</ref>
 
[[Lacan]] contrasts the [[lack]] of [[being]], which relates to [[desire]], with the [[lack]] of having (''manque à avoir''), which relates to [[demand]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.730</ref>
  
[[Image:Lacan-threelacks.jpg|center|Table of three types of lack of object]]
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===Lack of an Object===
 
 
 
 
  
 
In 1956, [[lack]] comes to designate the [[lack]] of an [[object]].
 
In 1956, [[lack]] comes to designate the [[lack]] of an [[object]].
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[[Lacan]] distinguishes between three kinds of [[lack]], according to the nature of the [[object]] which is [[lack]]ing, as shown in the figure below.<ref>{{S4}} p.269</ref>
 
[[Lacan]] distinguishes between three kinds of [[lack]], according to the nature of the [[object]] which is [[lack]]ing, as shown in the figure below.<ref>{{S4}} p.269</ref>
  
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[[Image:Lacan-threelacks.jpg|center|Table of three types of lack of object]]
  
 
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Of these three forms of [[lack]], [[castration]] is the most important from the point of view of analytic experience, and the term "[[lack]]" tends to become synonymous with [[castration]].
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Of these three forms of [[lack]], [[castration]] is the most important fromt he point of view of analytic experience, and the term "[[lack]]" tends to become synonymous with [[castration]].
 
 
 
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In 1957, when [[Lacan]] introduces the [[algebraic]] [[symbol]] for the [[bar]]red [[Other]] (<strike>A</strike>), [[lack]] comes to designate the [[lack]] of a [[signifier]] in the [[Other]].
 
In 1957, when [[Lacan]] introduces the [[algebraic]] [[symbol]] for the [[bar]]red [[Other]] (<strike>A</strike>), [[lack]] comes to designate the [[lack]] of a [[signifier]] in the [[Other]].
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==See Also==
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* [[Being]]
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* [[Castration]]
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* [[Frustration]]
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* [[Phallus]]
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* [[Privation]]
  
  
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==References==
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<references/>
  
 
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[[Category:Terms]]
 
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[[Category:Concepts]]
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Dictionary]]
  
  

Revision as of 07:54, 30 July 2006

"Lack" (Fr. manque)

The term "lack" is always related, in Lacan's teaching, to desire.

Ii is a lack which causes desire to arise.[1]

However, the precise nature of what is lacking varies over the course of Lacan's work.

Lack of Being

When the term first appears, in 1955, lack designates first and foremost a lack of being.

What is desired is being itself.

Desire is a relation of being to lack. The lack is the lack of being properly speaking. It isn't the lack of this or that, but lack of being whereby the being exists."[2]

Lacan returns to this theme in 1958, when he argues that desire is the metonymy of the lack of being (manque à être; translated by Sheridan as "want-to-be").[3]

The subject's lack of being is "the heart of the analytic experience" and "the very field in which the neurotic's passion is deployed.[4]

Lacan contrasts the lack of being, which relates to desire, with the lack of having (manque à avoir), which relates to demand.[5]

Lack of an Object

In 1956, lack comes to designate the lack of an object.

Lacan distinguishes between three kinds of lack, according to the nature of the object which is lacking, as shown in the figure below.[6]

Table of three types of lack of object

Of these three forms of lack, castration is the most important from the point of view of analytic experience, and the term "lack" tends to become synonymous with castration.

In 1957, when Lacan introduces the algebraic symbol for the barred Other (A), lack comes to designate the lack of a signifier in the Other.

Lacan introduces the symbol S(A) to designate "the signifier of a lack in the Other."

No matter how many signifiers one adds to the signifying chain, the chain is always incomplete; it always lacks the signifier that oculd complete it.

This "missing signifier" (written -1 in Lacanian algebra) is constitutive of the subject.


See Also


References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre VIII. Le transfert, 1960-61. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p.139
  2. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book II. The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-55. Trans. Sylvana Tomaselli. New York: Nortion; Cambridge: Cambridge Unviersity Press, 1988. p.223
  3. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.259
  4. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.251
  5. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.730
  6. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p.269