Matheme
| French: mathème |
Background
The term "matheme" is a neologism coined by Jacques Lacan in the early 1970s.
Formed by derivation from "mathematics" and by analogy with phoneme and Lévi-Strauss's mytheme,[1] the term is an equivalent to "mathematical sign". It is not used in conventional mathematics, but is part of Lacan's algebra.
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Lacan begins to use a variety of graphs and 'schemata' at an early stage in his work.
Originally used as teaching aids, these range from teh relatively simply 'schema L' illustrating the imaginary function of the ego in the 1966 pape on psychosis to the complex chart of the workings of desire (1960).
Perhaps the most familiar is the 'algorithm' which in 1957 replaces Saussure's simple diagram of the sign
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with the notation
This is to be understood as demonstrating that the signifier is above the signified, and that the two are separated by a bar that resists signification and forces the signfier to slide endlessly.[2]
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The graphs and schemata gradually become more complex, and are eventually replaced by an "algebra" of "little letters" or mathemes in which, for instance, "P" is the symbolic fahter, and "M" the symbolic mother.
The function of the formalization that results in the emergence of the amtheme is said by Lacan to be the integral transmission of his teachings on psychoanalysis.
Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre XX. Encore, 1972-73. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1975.
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The two formulae which are most often referred to as mathemes were created in 1957 to designate points in the graph of desire.
These formulae, which were both created to designate points in the graph of desire, are the matheme for the drive, ($ <> D), and the matheme for fantasy, ($ <> a).
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The structural parallel between the two mathemes is clear; they are both composed of two algebraic symbols conjoined by a rhomboid (the symbol <>, which Lacan calls the poinçon) and enclosed by brackets.
The rhomboid symbolizes a relation between the two symbols, which includes the relations of "envelopment-development-conjunction-disjunction."[3]
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Lacan argues that the mathemes are "not transcendent signifiers; they are the indices of an absolute signification."[4]
They are "created to allow a hundred and one different readings, a multiplicity that is admissible as long as the spoken remains caught in their algebra."[5]
- They are constructed to resist any attempt to reduce them to one univocal signification, and to prevent the reader from an intuitive or imaginary understanding of psychoanalytic concepts: the mathemes are not to be understood but to be used.
In this way, they constitute a formal core of psychoanalytic theory which may be transmitted integrally.
"One certainly doesn't know what they mean, but they are transmitted."[6]
See Also
References
- ↑ Mytheme is a term coined by Claude Lévi-Strauss to denote the basic constituents of mythological systems.
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. "L'instance de la lettre dans l'inconscient ou la raison depuis Freud." Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966: 493-528 ["The agency of the letter in the unconscious or reason since Freud." Trans. Alan Sheridan Écrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1977: 146-78].
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.280
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 314
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 313
- ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre XX. Encore, 1972-73. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1975. p. 100
