Difference between revisions of "Name-of-the-Father"

From No Subject - Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 18: Line 18:
  
 
=====Paternal Metaphor=====
 
=====Paternal Metaphor=====
[[Image:NOTF.gif|thumb|right|The paternal metaphor]]
+
[[Image:NOTF.gif|thumb|404px|right|The paternal metaphor]]
 
In another work on [[psychosis]], [[Lacan]] represents of the '''[[Oedipus complex]]''' as a '''[[metaphor]]''' ('''[[paternal metaphor]]'''), in which one [[signifier]] (the [[Name-of-the-Father]]) [[metaphor|substitutes]] another (the [[desire]] of the [[mother]]).
 
In another work on [[psychosis]], [[Lacan]] represents of the '''[[Oedipus complex]]''' as a '''[[metaphor]]''' ('''[[paternal metaphor]]'''), in which one [[signifier]] (the [[Name-of-the-Father]]) [[metaphor|substitutes]] another (the [[desire]] of the [[mother]]).
  

Revision as of 04:56, 3 September 2006

French: Nom-du-Père

Jacques Lacan

Symbolic Father

When the expression "the name of the father" first appeared in Lacan’s work, in the early 1950s, it is without capital letters and refers generally to the "prohibitive role" of the "symbolic father" as the one who lays down the incest taboo in the Oedipus complex.

"It is in the 'name of the father' that we must recognize the support of the symbolic function which, from the dawn of history, has identified his person with the figure of the law."[1]

Legislative and Prohibitive Function

From the beginning Lacan plays on the homophony of le nom du père (the name of the father) and le 'non' du père (the "no" of the father), to emphasize the legislative and prohibitive function of the symbolic father.

Master Signifier

A few years later, in the seminar on the psychoses, the expression becomes capitalized and hyphenated and takes on a more precise meaning; the Name-of-the-Father is now the master signifier which permits signification to proceed normally.

This master signifier both confers identity on the subject (it names him, positions him within the symbolic order) and signifies the Oedipal prohibition, the 'no' of the incest taboo.

If this signifier is foreclosed (not included in the symbolic order), the result is psychosis.

Paternal Metaphor
The paternal metaphor

In another work on psychosis, Lacan represents of the Oedipus complex as a metaphor (paternal metaphor), in which one signifier (the Name-of-the-Father) substitutes another (the desire of the mother).

See Also

References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.67