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| =====Background===== | | =====Background===== |
| + | The "[[matheme]]" is a neologism introduced in the [[{{LB}}|work]] of [[Jacques Lacan]]. |
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− | The [[matheme]] is a concept introduced in the [[{{LB}}|work]] of [[Jacques Lacan]].
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− | The term "[[matheme]]" is a neologism coined by [[Jacques Lacan]] in the early 1970s.
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− | Formed by derivation from "[[mathematics]]" and by analogy with [[phoneme]] and [[Lévi-Strauss]]'s [[mytheme]],<ref>''Mytheme'' is a term coined by [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] to denote the basic constituents of mythological systems.</ref> the term is an equivalent to "[[algebra|mathematical sign]]". It is not used in conventional [[mathematics]], but is part of [[Lacan]]'s [[algebra]].
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− | They are formulae designed as symbolic representations of his ideas and analyses.
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− | They were intended to introduce some degree of scientific rigour in [[philosophy|philosophical]] and [[psychology|psychological]] [[{{LB}}|writing]], replacing the often hard to understand verbal descriptions with formulae resembling those used in the [[science|hard sciences]], and as an easy way to hold, [[memory|remember]] and rehearse some of the core ideas of both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]].
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− | For example: $ <> a is the [[matheme]] for [[fantasy]] for [[Lacan]].
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− | "Matheme", for Lacan, was not simply the imitation of science by philosophy, but the ideal of a perfect means for the integral transmission of knowledge.
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− | Natural language, with its constant "metonymic slide", fails here, where mathematics succeeds.
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− | Though sometimes disparaged as a case of "physics envy" or accused of introducing false rigor into a discpline that is more literary theory than hard science, there is also something of a sense of humor in Lacan's mathemes.
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Revision as of 20:15, 10 September 2006