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==Nature and Language==A constant theme running throughout Lacan's work is the distinction he draws between human beings and other animals, or, as Lacan puts it, between "human society" and "animal society."<ref>{{S1Top}}natural|nature{{Bottom}} p.223</ref>

===Symbolic and Imaginary===The consequence of this fundamental difference is that animal psychology is entirely dominated by the [[imaginary]], whereas [[human]] [[psychologydifference]] is complicated by the additional dimension of the [[symbolic]]. --- [[Jacques Lacan]] posits a distinction between [[human]]s and other [[animal]]s, the basis of which is [[language]].<ref>{{S1}} p.223</ref> [[Human]]s have [[language]], whereas [[animal]]s merely have [[code]]s. As a result, that [[biology|animal]] [[psychology]] is entirely dominated by the [[imaginary]], whereas [[human]] [[psychology]] is complicated by the additional dimension of the [[symbolicdimension]]. ==Nature and Culture==Within the context of this bindayr opposition between human beings and other animals, Lacan uses the term 'nature' in a complex doubl sense. On the one hand, he uses it to designate one term in the oppositon, namely the animal world. In this sense, [[Lacan]] adopts the traditional [[anthropology|anthropological]] opposition between [[nature]] and [[culture]] ([[culture]] being, in [[Lacan]]ian terms, the [[symbolic]] [[order]]). ==Incest Prohibition==Like [[Claude Levi-Strauss]] and other [[anthropology|anthropologists]], [[Lacan]] points to the [[prohibition]] of [[incest]] as the kernel of the [[law|legal]] [[structure]]] which differentiates [[culture]] from [[nature]]. <blockquote>The primordial Law is therefore that which in regulating marriage superimposes the kingdom of culture on that of a nature abandoned to the law of mating.<ref>{{E}} p.66</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>The regulation of kinship by the [[incest]] primordial Law is therefore that which in regulating [[taboomarriage]] points to superimposes the fact kingdom of culture on that of a nature abandoned to the paternal function is at the heart law of the rift between [[human]]s and [[animal]]smating.<ref>{{E}} p.66</ref></blockquote>

===Paternal Function===The regulation of kinship by the [[incest]] [[taboo]] points to the fact that the [[Name-of-the-Father|paternal function]] is at the heart of the rift between [[human]]s and [[animal]]s. By insribing inscribing a line of descent from [[male]] to [[male]] and thus ordering a series of generations, the [[Father]] marks the difference between the [[symbolic]] and the [[imaginary]].

===Human and Animal Imaginary===In other [[words]], what is unique [[about ]] [[human]] beings [[being]]s is not that in [[human beings ]] [[being]]s the [[imaginary]] [[order]] is distorted by the added dimension of the [[symbolic]]. The [[imaginary]] is what [[animal]]s and [[human]] [[being]]s have in common, except that in [[human]] [[being]]s it is no longer a natural [[imaginary]]. Hence [[Lacan]] repudiates "the [[doctrine]] of a discontinuity between animal psychology and human psychology which is far away from our [[thought]]."<ref>{{Ec}} p.484</ref>

The imaginary is what animals and human beings have in common==Natural Order of Human Existence==On the other hand, except [[Lacan]] also uses the term "[[nature]]" to denote the [[idea]] that in human beings it there is no longer a "[[nature|natural imaginaryorder]]" in [[human]] [[existence]], an idea which [[Lacan]] calls the "great fantasy of ''nautra mater'', the very idea of nature."<ref>{{S1}} p. 149</ref>

Hence Lacan repudiates "the doctrine ===Biological Basis of a discontinuity between animal Human Behavior===This great [[fantasy]] of [[nature]] underlies modern [[psychology ]], which attempts to explain [[human]] [[behavior]] by reference to [[biology|ethological categories]] such as [[instinct]] and human psychology which is far away from our thought."<ref>{{Ec}} p[[adaptation]].484</ref>

==Nature=Symbolic Alienation from Natural Order===On [[Lacan]] is highly critical of all such attempts to explain the other hand, LAcan also uses the term 'phenomena in terms of [[nature]]' . He argues that they are based on a failure to denote recognize the idea that there is a 'natural importance of the [[symbolic order' in ]], which radically [[alienation|alienates]] [[human]] [[existencebeing]], an idea which Lacan calls s from the "great fantasy of ''nautra mater'', the very idea of nature."<ref>{{S1}} p[[natural]] [[order]].149</ref>

This great <blockquote>In the [[fantasyhuman]] of [[natureworld]] underlies modern , even "those [[psychologysignification]]s that are closest to [[need]], which attempts [[signification]]s that are relative to explain the most purely [[biological]] insertion into a nutrittive and captivating [[humanenvironment]] , primordial [[behaviorsignification]] by reference s, are, in their sequence and in their very foundation, subject to ethological categories such as the [[instinctlaw]] and s of the [[adaptationsignifier]].<ref>{{S3}} p.198</ref></blockquote>

===Human Sexuality, Nature and Culture===The [[absence]] of a [[natural]] [[order]] in [[human]] [[existence]] can be seen most clearly in [[human]] [[sexuality]]. [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]] both argue that [[human]] [[sexuality]] is highly critical of all such attempts to explain entirely caught up in the phenomena in terms of [[naturecultural]] [[order]].

He argues that they are based on a failure to recognize the importance of the [[symbolic order]], which radically [[alienation|alienates]] human beings from the [[natural]] [[order]]. <blockquote>In the [[human]] world, even "those [[signification]]s that are closest to [[need]], [[signification]]s that are relative to the most purely [[biological]] insertion into a nutrittive and captivating environment, primordial [[signification]]s, are, in their sequence and in their very foundation, subject to the [[law]]s of the [[signifier]].<ref>{{S3}} p.198</ref></blockquote>  ----- [[Lacan]] thus argues that "the [[Freudian]] discovery teaches us that all natural harmony in man is profoundly disconcerted."<ref>{{S3}} p.83</ref> There is not even a pure natural state at the beginning in which the [[human]] [[subject]] might [[exist]] before being caught up in the [[symbolic]] [[order]]. "The Law is there ''ab origine''."<ref>{{S3}} p.83</ref> [[Need]] is never present in a pure pre-linguistic state in the human being: such a '[[mythical]]' pre-[[linguistic]] [[need]] can only be hypothesized after it has been articulated in [[demand]]. ==Human Sexuality==Perversion====The [[absence]] of a [[natural]] [[order]] in [[human]] [[existence]] can be seen most clearly in human [[sexuality]]. [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]] both argue that [[human]] [[sexuality]] There is entirely caught up in the no such [[culturalthing]] [[order]]. There is no such thing, for the [[human]] being, as a ''[[nature|natural ]]'' [[sexual relationship]].  One consequence of this is that [[perversion]] cannot be defined by reference to a supposed [[natural]] or [[biological]] [[norm]] governing [[sexuality]].

{{See}}* [[Adaptation]]* [[Alienation]]* [[Biology]]||* [[lawCode]]* [[prohibitionCulture]]* [[biologyDrive]]||* [[Instinct]]* [[Language]]* [[Law]]||* [[Need]]* [[Perversion]]* [[Sexual relationship]]{{Also}}

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