#redirect ===Translation===This term has sometimes been translated into [[English]] as "[[Objet petit a|object (little) a]]", but [[Lacan]] insisted that it should remain untranslated, "thus acquiring, as it were, the status of an algebraic sign."<ref>[[Ecrits|Sheridan, Alan]]. "Translator's note." {{E}} p.vii-xii</ref> ===Lacanian Algebra===The [[symbol]] ''<b>a</b>'' (the first [[letter]] of the [[word]] ''[[other|autre]]'', or "[[other]]") is one of the first [[algebraic]] [[sign]]s which appears in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]], and is first introduced in 1955 in connection with [[schema L]]. It is always lower [[case]] and italicized to show that it denotes the [[little other]], in opposition to the [[capital]] '<b>A</b>' of the [[big Other]]. Unlike the [[big Other]], which represents a radical and irreducible [[big Other|alterity]], the [[little other]] is "the other which isn't [[another]] at all, since it is essentially coupled with the ego, in a [[relationship]] which is always reflexive, interchangeable."<ref>{{S2}} p. 321</ref> In [[schema L]], then, ''a'' and ''a''' designate indiscriminately the [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]]/[[specular image]], and clearly belong to the [[imaginary order]]. ===Object of Desire===In 1957, when [[Lacan]] introduces the [[matheme]] of [[fantasy]] ('''$ <> <i>a</i>'''), ''a'' begins to be conceived as the [[object]] of [[desire]]. This is the [[imaginary]] [[part-object]], an element which is imagined as separable from the rest of the [[body]]. Lacan now begins to distinguish between ''a'', the [[object]] of [[desire]], and the [[specular image]], which he now symbolizes ''i(a)''. ===Agalma===In the seminar of 1960-1, [[Lacan]] articulates the ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' with the term ''[[agalma]]'' (a Greek term meaning glory, an ornament, an offering ot the gods, or a little statue of a god) which he extracts from [[Plato]]'s ''[[Plato|Symposium]]''. Just as the ''[[agalma]]'' is a precious [[object]] hidden [[inside]] a relatively worthless box, so the ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' is the [[object]] of [[desire]] which we seek in the [[other]].<ref>{{S8}} p. 177</ref> ===Object-Cause of Desire===From 1963 onwards, '''<i>a</i>''' comes increasingly to acquire connotations of the [[real]], although it never loses its [[imaginary]] status; in 1973 [[Lacan]] can still say that it is [[imaginary]].<ref>{{S20}} p. 77</ref> From this point on, ''[[objet (petit) a|a]]'' denotes the [[object]] which can never be attained, which is really the [[cause]] of [[desire]] rather than that towards which [[desire]] tends; this is why [[Lacan]] now calls it the "[[objet (petit) a|object-cause]]" of [[desire]]. ===Object of Drive===''[[objet (petit) a|Objet petit a]]'' is any [[object]] which sets [[desire]] in motion, especially the [[partial object]]s which define the [[drive]]s. The [[drive]]s do not seek to attain the ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'', but rather circle round it.<ref>{{S11}} p. 179</ref> ===Object of Anxiety, Libido===''[[Objet petit a]]'' is both the object of [[anxiety]], and the final irreducible reserve of [[libido]].<ref>{{S10}} [[Seminar]] of 16 January 1963.</ref> ===Position of the Analyst===It plays an increasingly important part in [[Lacan]]'s [[concept]] of the [[treatment]], in which the [[analyst]] must situate himself as the [[semblance]] of ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'', the [[cause]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[desire]]. ===Surplus Enjoyment===In the [[seminar]]s of 1962-3 and of 1964, ''[[Objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' is defined as the leftover, the [[remainder]] ([[Fr]]. ''[[reste]]''), the remnant [[left]] behind by the introduction of the [[symbolic]] in the [[real]]. This is developed further in the [[seminar]] of 1969-70, in which [[Lacan]] elaborates his [[algebra|formulae]] of the [[four discourses]]. In the [[discourse]] of the [[master]], one [[signifier]] attempts to [[represent]] the [[subject]] for all other [[signifier]]s, but inevitably a [[surplus]] is always produced; this [[surplus]] is ''[[Objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'', a [[surplus]] [[meaning]], and a [[surplus|surplus enjoyment]] ([[Fr]]. ''[[surplus|plus-de-jouir]]''). This concept is inspired by [[Marx]]'s concept of [[surplus value]]; ''[[Objet (petit) a|a]]'' is the [[excess]] of ''[[jouissance]]'' which has no "[[use value]]" but persists for the mere sake of [[enjoyment]]. ===Semblance===In 1973, [[Lacan]] [[links]] ''[[Objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]'' to the concept of [[semblance]], asserting that ''''[[Objet (petit) a|a]]'''' is a "semblance of [[being]]."<ref>{{S20}} p.87</ref> ===Borromean knot===In 1974 he places it at the center of the [[Borromean knot]], at the [[place]] where the [[order|three order]]s ([[real]], [[symbolic]] and [[imaginary]]) all intersect. ==See Also=={{See}}* [[Analyst]]* [[Anxiety]]||* [[Borromean knot]]* [[Cause]]||* [[Desire]]* [[Drive]]||* [[Other]]* [[Schema L]]||* [[Specular image]]{{Also}} ==References==<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small"><references/></div> [[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]][[Category:Dictionary]][[Category:Real]][[Category:Concepts]][[Category:Terms]][[Category:Edit]]{{OK}}__NOTOC__
