Difference between revisions of "Lack"

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==Translator's Note==
 
==Translator's Note==
"''Manque''" is translated here as "lack", except in the expression, created by [[Lacan]], "''mangque-à-être''", for which [[Lacan]] himself has proposed the English neologism "want-to-be".
+
"''Manque''" is translated here as "lack", except in the expression, created by [[Lacan]], "''manque-à-être''", for which [[Lacan]] himself has proposed the [[English]] neologism "[[want]]-to-be".
  
 
==Lack and Desire==
 
==Lack and Desire==
The term "[[lack]]" is always related, in [[Lacan]]'s teaching, to [[desire]].
+
The term "[[lack]]" is always related, in [[Lacan]]'s teaching, to [[desire]]. It is a [[lack]] which causes [[desire]] to arise.<ref>{{S8}} p. 139</ref> However, the precise [[nature]] of what is [[lack]]ing varies over the course of [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
 
 
It is a [[lack]] which causes [[desire]] to arise.<ref>{{S8}} p. 139</ref>
 
 
 
However, the precise nature of what is [[lack]]ing varies over the course of [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
 
  
 
==Lack of Being==
 
==Lack of Being==
When the term first appears, in 1955, [[lack]] designates first and foremost a [[lack|lack of being]].
+
When the term first appears, in 1955, [[lack]] designates first and foremost a [[lack|lack of being]]. What is [[desire]]d is [[being]] itself.
 
 
What is [[desire]]d is [[being]] itself.
 
 
 
<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|lack of being]] (''[[lack|manque à être]]'').<ref>{{E}} p. 259; translated by Sheridan as "want-to-be"</ref>
+
<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>
  
The [[subject]]'s [[lack|lack of being]] is "the heart of the analytic experience" and "the very field in which the neurotic's passion is deployed.<ref>{{E}} p. 251</ref>
+
[[Lacan]] returns to this theme in 1958, when he argues that [[desire]] is the [[metonymy]] of the [[lack|lack of being]] (''[[lack|manque à être]]'').<ref>{{E}} p. 259; translated by [[Sheridan]] as "want-to-be"</ref>  The [[subject]]'s [[lack|lack of being]] is "the heart of the [[analytic]] [[experience]]" and "the very field in which the [[neurotic]]'s [[passion]] is deployed.<ref>{{E}} p. 251</ref> [[Lacan]] contrasts the [[lack|lack of being]], which relates to [[desire]], with the [[lack|lack of having]] (''[[lack|manque à avoir]]''), which relates to [[demand]].<ref>{{Ec}} p. 730</ref>
 
 
[[Lacan]] contrasts the [[lack|lack of being]], which relates to [[desire]], with the [[lack|lack of having]] (''[[lack|manque à avoir]]''), which relates to [[demand]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.730</ref>
 
  
 
==Lack of an Object==
 
==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]]. [[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>
 
+
<!-- In the [[child]] as in the [[adult]], the lack of the object can appear in three specific modes: frustration, privation, and castration. In each of these three cases there is lack of the object, but in each [[case]] the nature of the lack is qualitatively different. The same is [[true]] of the type of object in question. -->
[[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>
 
 
 
 
{| style="width:85%; height:200px" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center"
 
{| style="width:85%; height:200px" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center"
 
|+ '''[[:Image:Lacan-threelacks.jpg|Table of three types of lack of object]]'''<BR>
 
|+ '''[[:Image:Lacan-threelacks.jpg|Table of three types of lack of object]]'''<BR>
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| align="center" | [[Symbolic]] [[phallus]]
 
| align="center" | [[Symbolic]] [[phallus]]
 
|}
 
|}
 
  
 
Of these three forms of [[lack]], [[castration]] is the most important from the point of view of [[treatment|analytic experience]], and the term "[[lack]]" tends to become synonymous with [[castration]].
 
Of these three forms of [[lack]], [[castration]] is the most important from the point of view of [[treatment|analytic experience]], and the term "[[lack]]" tends to become synonymous with [[castration]].
  
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]]. [[Lacan]] introduces the [[symbol]] '''S(<strike>A</strike>)''' to designate "the signifier of a lack in the Other." No matter how many [[signifier]]s one adds to the [[signifying chain]], the [[chain]] is always [[lack|incomplete]]; it always [[lack]]s the [[signifier]] that could complete it. This "[[lack|missing signifier]]" (written '''-1''' in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]) is constitutive of the [[subject]].
 
 
[[Lacan]] introduces the [[symbol]] '''S(<strike>A</strike>)''' to designate "the signifier of a lack in the Other."
 
 
 
No matter how many [[signifier]]s one adds to the [[signifying chain]], the [[chain]] is always [[lack|incomplete]]; it always [[lack]]s the [[signifier]] that could complete it.
 
 
 
This "[[lack|missing signifier]]" (written '''-1''' in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]]) is constitutive of the [[subject]].
 
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==

Latest revision as of 00:04, 26 May 2019

French: manque

Translator's Note

"Manque" is translated here as "lack", except in the expression, created by Lacan, "manque-à-être", for which Lacan himself has proposed the English neologism "want-to-be".

Lack and Desire

The term "lack" is always related, in Lacan's teaching, to desire. It 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).[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
AGENT LACK OBJECT
Real father Symbolic castration Imaginary phallus
Symbolic mother Imaginary frustration Real breast
Imaginary father Real privation Symbolic phallus

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 could 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; translated by Sheridan as "want-to-be"
  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