24,656
edits
Changes
no edit summary
The term "[[narcissism]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[narcissismnarcissisme]]' ') first appears in [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work ]] in 1910, but it is not until his work "[[On narcissism: an introduction]]"<ref>Freud 1914c</ref> that the concept begins to play a central role in [[psychoanalytic theory]].
The concept of '[[narcissism]]' begins to play a central role in [[psychoanalytic theory]].
From this point on, [[Freud]] defines [[narcissism]] are the investment of [[libido]] in the [[ego]], and opposes it to [[object]]-[[love]], in which [[libido]] is invested in [[object]]s. [[Lacan]] attributes great importance to this phase in [[Freud]]'s work, since it clearly inscribes the [[ego]] as an [[object]] of the [[libido|libidinal economy]], and links the birth of the [[ego]] to the [[narcissism|narcissistic stage]] of [[development]]. [[Narcissism]] is different from the prior stage of [[autoeroticism]] (in which the [[ego]] does not exist as a unity), and only comes about when "a new psychical action" gives birth ot the [[ego]]. --- [[Lacan]] develops [[Freud]]'s concept by linking it more explicitly with its namesake, the myth of [[Narcissus]]. [[Lacan]] thus defines [[narcissism]] as the erotic attraction to the [[specular image]]; this erotic relation underlies the primary [[identification]] by which the [[ego]] is formed in the [[mirror stage]]. [[Narcissism]] has both an erotic character and an [[aggressive]] character. It is erotic, as the myth of [[Narcissus shows, since the [[subject]] is strongly attracted to the [[gestalt]] that is his image. It is [[aggressive]], since the wholeness of the [[specular image]] contrasts with the uncoordinated disunity of the [[subject]]'s real [[body]], and thus seems to threaten the [[subject]] with disintegration. In "[[Remarks on psychic causality,"<ref>Lacan. 1946</ref>[[Lacan]] coins the term "[[narcissism|Narcissistic suicidal aggression]]" (''[[narcissism|aggression suicidaire narcissique]]'') to express the fact that the erotic-aggressive character of the [[narcissistic]] infautation with the [[specular image]] can lead the [[subject]] to self-destruction (as the myth of [[Narcissus]] also illustrates.<ref>{{Ec}} p.187; {{Ec}} p.174</ref> The [[narcissistic]] relation constitutes the [[imaginary]] dimension of human relationships.<ref>{{S3}} p.92</ref>
'[[Narcissism]]' is used by [[Sigmund Freud]] to describe the investment of [[libido]] in the [[ego]].
The [[narcissistic]] relation (with the [[specular image]]) constitutes the [[imaginary dimension]] of human relationships.<ref>{{S3}} p.92</ref>
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Imaginary]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
