Changes

==Two Approaches - Linguistic and Mathematical==

In his attempt to theorize the category of the [[symbolic]], [[Lacan]] adopts two basis approaches.

===Mathematical Approach===

Although there is a general shift in [[Lacan]]'s work from the [[linguistic]] approach which predominates in the 1950s to a [[mathematical]] approach which predominates in the 1970s, there are traces of the [[mathematical]] approach as early as the 1940s.

The branches of [[mathematics]] which [[Lacan]] uses most are [[algebra]] and [[topology]], although there are also incursions into set theory and number theory.<ref>{{E}} p.316-18</ref>

==Formalization==

[[Lacan]]'s use of [[mathematics]] represents an attempt to [[formalize]] [[psychoanalytic theory]], in keeping with his view that [[psychoanalytic theory]] should aspire to the [[formalization]] proper to [[science]].

==Metalanguage==

However, this use of [[mathematics]] is not an attempt to produce a [[metalanguage]], since "no metalanguage can be spoken."<ref> {{E}} p.311</ref>