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The "[[Oedipus complex]]" was posited by [[Sigmund Freud]] as the central organizing principle of psychosexual development.
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==Sigmund Freud==
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<!-- =====Definition===== -->
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<!-- The [[Oedipus complex]] is a central [[concept]] in [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic theory.  is considered by [[Freud]] as one of the "cornerstones" of [[psychoanalysis]].<ref>{{F}} (1923a) "[[Sigmund Freud:Bibliography|Two Encyclopaedia Articles]]", [[SE]], Vol. 18, p. 247.</ref> [[Freud]]'s conception of the [[Oedipus complex]] is probably one of the most popularized and at the same [[time]] one of the most misunderstood [[ideas]] of [[psychoanalysis]]. -->
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The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is a concept used by [[Sigmund Freud]] to refer to the [[unconscious]] [[sexual difference|sexual]] [[desire]] of the [[child]] - especially a [[male]] [[child]] - for the parent of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by hostility and [[rivalry]] with the parent of the same sex.
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<!-- The [[Oedipus complex]] was defined by [[Freud]] as an [[unconscious]] set of loving and hostile [[desire]]s which the [[subject]] experiences in relation to its [[parents]]; the [[subject]] [[desire]]s one parent, and thus enters into rivalry with the [[other]] parent. In the "positive" [[form]] of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[desire]]d parent is the parent of the opposite sex to the [[subject]], and the parent of the same sex is the rival. / The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is a term developed by [[Sigmund Freud]] to designate the attraction on the part of the child toward the parent of the opposite sex and rivalry and hostility toward the parent of its own. -->
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<!-- The [[existence]] of the Oedipus complex explains the [[child]]s [[sexual]] attaction towards the parent of the opposite sex and jealously of the parent of the same sex. -->
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<!-- It initially refers to the boy's [[perception]] of his mother as a [[sexual object]] and of his father as a rival, but Freud's description of this '[[universal]] phenomenon' becomes more complicated as he integrates the findings of his studies of the 'sexual theories of [[children]].' -->
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<!-- The [[Oedipus complex]] is rather more complicated than this, though, and represents [[Freud]]'s attempt to map the [[ambivalnce|ambivalent]], both [[love|loving]] and hostile, [[feelings]] that the [[child]] has towards its parents. In its positive form the complex manifests itself as the desire for the [[death]] of a rival, the parent of the same sex, accompanied by the sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex. In its [[negative]] form the complex works in reverse, as the desire for the parent of the same sex and a [[hatred]] towards the parent of the opposite sex. In actual fact, a so-called 'normal' Oedipus complex consists of both positive and negative forms. What is important [[about]] the Oedipus complex is how the child learns to negotiate and resolve its ambivalent feelings towards its parents. -->
  
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<!-- =====''Oedipus Rex''===== -->
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The complex is named after [[Oedipus]], a prominent [[figure]] in Greek mythology who unwittingly killed his [[father]] and [[married]] his [[mother]].
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<!-- The term is named after the [[Oedipus]], a prominent figure in Greek mythology who unwittingly unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. Taking his cue from the ancient Greek [[tragedy]] by [[Sophocles]], [[Oedipus Rex]], where [[Oedipus]] unwittingly kills his [[father]] and becomes king by marrying his [[mother]], [[Freud]] suggested that our deepest [[unconscious]] [[desire]] is to [[murder]] our [[father]] and marry our [[mother]]. -->
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<!-- One of the cornerstones of the [[theory]] of [[psychoanalysis]], the [[idea]] of the [[Oedipus complex]] derives from the Greek legend that tells how [[Oedipus]] unwittingly killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta.  When he finally learns what he has done, he blinds himself./ It comes from the Greek myth of Oedipus, a Greek hero who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.  /  The term derives from ''[[Oedipus]]'' was a prominent figure in Greek mythology who killed his father and married his mother. / [[Freud]] attributes the "gripping [[power]]" of [[Sophocles]]' play, ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' to its depiction of what [[Freud]] considers a "universal [[event]] in early [[childhood]]." -->
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<!-- Followers of the [[psychologist]] Sigmund Freud long believed that the Oedipus complex was common to all cultures, although many psychiatrists now refute this [[belief]]. -->
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<!-- =====[[History]]===== -->
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<!-- References to the [[Oedipus complex]] can be foudn in some of [[Freud]]'s earliest writings./ Although the term does not appear in [[Freud]]'s writings until 1910, traces of its origins can be found much earlier in his [[work]], and by 1910 it was already showing [[signs]] of the central importance that it was to acquire in all [[psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter.  -->
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<!-- The "[[Oedipus complex]]" is first introduced by [[Freud]] in 1901; it comes to acquire central importance in [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter. -->
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<!-- The "[[Oedipus complex]]" was posited by [[Sigmund Freud]] as the central organizing [[principle]] of [[psychosexual]] development. crucial [[stage]] in the normal [[developmental]] [[process]]. -->
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<!-- Although the [[Oedipus complex]] is absolutely central to Freud's theory of [[human]] development, no one paper is devoted to it. -->
  
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===Phallic Phase===
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The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the [[third]] year of [[life]] and then declines in the fifth year, and coincides with the [[phallic stage]] of [[development|psychosexual development]].
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<!-- The Oedipus conflict, or Oedipus complex, was described as a [[state]] of [[psychosexual development]] and [[awareness]] first occurring around the age of 5 and a half years (a period known as the phallic stage in [[Freudian]] theory). -->
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<!-- It occurs during the phallic stage of the [[psycho]]-sexual development of the [[personality]], approximately years [[three]] to five. The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year when the [[child]] [[renunciation|renounces]] [[desire|sexual desire]] for its parents and [[identification|identifies]] with the rival. -->
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<!-- during which the primary [[erogenous zone]] of the [[body]] consists of the [[genital]] sex organs. when awareness of and manipulation of the genitals is supposed to be a primary source of [[pleasure]]/ during which a child becomes interested in his or her own sexual organs --
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<!-- Freud came to assume that, by the time he has reached the ‘phallic’ stage of development, at around the age of four or five, the small boy is sexually interested in his mother, wishes to gain exclusive possession of her, and therefore harbours hostile impulses towards his father. -->
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<!-- Freudians normally date the [[Oedipus complex]] to the ages of three to five years; according to [[Klein]], it occurs much earlier. -->
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<!-- Freud saw this process as taking [[place]] between the ages of three and five years. With the [[resolution]] of the Oedipus complex sexuality goes through a period of '[[latency]]' until it reappears during [[puberty]] as adolescent sexuality. -->
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<!-- Most controversially, Freud insisted that the Oedipus complex was a universal, trans-historical and trans-[[cultural]] phenomenon: <blockquote>[T]he Oedipus complex is the nuclear complex of [[neuroses]], and constitutes the essential part of their [[content]]. It represents the peak of [[infantile]] sexuality, which, through its after-effects, exercises a decisive influence on the sexuality of [[adults]]. Every new arrival on this planet is faced by the task of mastering the Oedipus complex; anyone who fails to do so falls a [[victim]] to [[neurosis]].<ref>Freud 1991d [1905]: 149</ref></blockquote> -->
  
The [[Oedipus complex]] was defined by [[Freud]] as an [[unconscious]] set of loving and hostile [[desire]]s which the [[subject]] experiences in relation to its parents; the [[subject]] [[desire]]s one parent, and thus enters into rivalry with the other parent.  
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<!--
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=====Castration Complex=====
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The hostility towards the father arouses the [[fear]] that the father will remove the offending sex [[organ]] of the boy, called [[castration anxiety]]. The [[castration complex]] arises from the  boy's assumption that, because girls are without a [[penis]], they must have suffered castration.  The [[reality]] of castration is borught home to the boy when he sees the sexual anatomy of the [[girl]], which is [[lacking]] the protruding genitals of the male. The girl appears [[castrated]] to the boy. "If that could happen to her, it could also happen to me," is what he thinks. As a result of castration anxiety, the boy represses his incestuous desire for the mother an his hostility for the father, and the Oedipus complex [[disappears]].
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-->
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<!-- the fact that a girl does not hav emale genitals is therefore the result of her castration, -->
  
In the "positive" form of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[desire]]d parent is the parent of the opposite sex to the [[subject]], and the parent of the same sex is the rival.  
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==Jacques Lacan==
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<!--
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In [[Lacanian]] [[terms]], the [[Oedipus complex]] marks the transition from a [[dual]] and potentially incestuous [[relationship]] with the mother to a triadic relationship in which the [[role]] and [[authority]] of the father or the [[Name-of-the-Father]] are recognized. Although Lacan follows Freud in making the [[Oedipus complex]] the crucial [[moment]] in human development, he modifies the concept in a [[number]] of ways, both by introducing the idea of a symbolic phallic which is distinct from the [[biological]] penis, and by [[mapping]] it onto the transition from [[nature]] to [[culture]] described by [[Levi-Strauss]].  A succesful negotiation of the Oedipal triangle is a precondition for entry into the human symbolic order.
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-->
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<!--
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===Family Complexes===
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[[Lacan]] first addresses the [[Oedipus complex]] in his [[{{Y}}|1938]] article on the [[family complexes|family]], where he argues that it is the last and most important of the three "[[family]] [[complexes]]." At this point his account of the [[Oedipus complex]] does not differ from [[Freud]]'s, his only originality [[being]] to emphasize its historical and cultural relativity, taking his cue from the anthropological studies by Malinowski and [[others]].<ref>{{L}} 1938: 66</ref>  It is in the 1950s that [[Lacan]] begins to develop his own distinctive conception of the [[Oedipus complex]]. Though he always follows [[Freud]] in regarding the [[Oedipus complex]] as the central complex in the [[unconscious]], he now begins to differ from [[Freud]] on a number of important points.  
  
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The most important of these is that in [[Lacan]]'s view, the [[subject]] always desires the [[mother]], and the [[father]] is always the rival, irrespective of whether the [[subject]] is [[male]] or [[female]]. Consequently, in [[Lacan]]'s account the [[male]] [[subject]] experiences the [[Oedipus complex]] in a radically asymmetrical way to the [[female]] [[subject]].
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-->
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<!-- In an early encyclopaedia [[article on the family]] (1938) [[Lacan]] adopted a fairly orthodox Freudian [[understanding]] of the Oedipus complex, and it was not until the 1950s and through the influence of Lévi-[[Strauss]] that Lacan began to develop his own distinctive '[[structural]]' [[model]] of the [[complex]]. For [[Lacan]], the [[Oedipus complex]] is primarily a symbolic structure. When two [[people]] live together or get married they  do so forvery personal and intimate reasons, but at the same time there is a wider [[social]] or symbolic aspect to this relationship. A relationship or [[marriage]] concerns not just the two people involved but also a [[whole]] social network of friends, relations and institutions. Thus, personal relationships situate men and women in a symbolic circuit of social [[meanings]]. According to [[Lacan]], therefore, we must distinguish between the real people involved and [[the symbolic]] [[structures]] that organize relationships between men and women. In our [[society]] the primary structure that defines our symbolic and unconscious relations is the Oedipus complex. More precisely the [[Oedipus complex]] represents a triangular structure that breaks the binary relationship established between the [[mother]] and [[child]] in [[the imaginary]], although, as we will see, the imaginary is never simply a dual structure - there is always a third element involved. The infant's earliest experiences are characterized by absolute [[dependence]] upon the mother as she fulfils the child's [[needs]] of feeding, caring and nurturing. At the same time the child is faced with the enigma around the (m)other's desire - What am I in the Other's desire? The answers the child comes up with will be crucial to its resolution of the [[Oedipus complex]]. -->
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===Symbolic Structure===
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The [[Oedipus complex]] is, for [[Lacan]], the paradigmatic triangular [[structure]], which contrasts with all [[dual relation]]s (though see the final paragraph below). The key function in the [[Oedipus complex]] is thus that of the [[father]], the third term which transforms the [[dual relation]] between [[mother]] and [[child]] into a [[triad]]ic [[structure]]. The [[Oedipus complex]] is thus [[nothing]] less than the passage from the [[imaginary]] [[order]] to the [[symbolic order]], "the conquest of the symbolic relation as such."<ref>{{S3}} p.199</ref> The fact that the passage to the [[symbolic]] passes via a complex sexual [[dialectic]] means that the [[subject]] cannot have access to the [[symbolic order]] without confronting the problem of [[sexual difference]].
  
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===Times===
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In ''[[Seminar|The Seminar, Book V]]'', [[Lacan]] analyzes this passage from the [[imaginary]] to the [[symbolic]] by [[identification|identifying]] three "[[times]]" of the [[Oedipus complex]], the sequence being one of [[logical]] rather than [[chronological]] priority.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref>
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<!-- The first time of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterized by the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] of [[mother]], [[child]] and [[phallus]]. prior to the invention of the [[father]] there is never a purely [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]] but always a third term, the [[phallus]], an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[mother]] [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]] himself (S4, 240-1). [[Lacan]] hints that the presence of the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] -->
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<!-- In the previous [[seminar]] of 1956-7, [[Lacan]] calls this the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]]. However, whether this [[triangle]] is regarded as [[preoedipal]] or as a moment in the [[Oedipus complex]] itself, the main point is the same: namely, that prior to the invention of the [[father]] there is never a purely [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]] but always a third term, the [[phallus]], an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[mother]] [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]] himself (S4, 240-1). [[Lacan]] hints that the presence of the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] indicates that the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is already functioning at this time.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref> -->
  
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====First====
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<!--
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The [[mother]] provides the necessary care, feeding and [[satisfaction]] of [[need]]s, while there is within her the [[desire]] for something other than [[satisfaction|satisfying]] the [[infant]]'s [[desire]].  The [[mother]] [[lack]]s the [[phallus]] and [[desire]]s in the [[infant]] something other than himself - the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s (the basis of the relationship with her [[father]], and of her own [[Oedipus complex]]).  The [[mother]] [[desire]]s something apart from attending to the [[child]]'s [[need]]s and cares, for behind her there is the [[Symbolic]] [[Order]] on which she depends, and also the [[phallus]], which plays the prominent role in the [[Symbolic]] [[Order]].  The [[infant]] is then caught in an imaginary relationship with the mother, familiar from the [[mirror]] stage, only this time centered on the [[presence]] and [[absence]] of the [[phallus]].
  
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The [[infant]] takes up a [[particular]] attitude with respect to the mother and the phallus.  In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[child]] tries to [[identification|identify]] with the [[mother]]'s [[object]] of [[desire]], the [[phallus]]. (his desire is the desire of the Other)
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-->
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In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[child]] slowly comes to realize that it is not identical to, or the sole object of, the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], as her [[desire]] is directed elsewhere.  He or she will therefore attempt to [[satisfy]] her [[desire]] by becoming the [[object]] of her [[desire]].  The [[dual relation|dyadic relationship]] between the [[mother]] and [[child]] is thus turned into a triangular relationship between the [[child]], the [[mother]] and the [[object]] of her [[desire]]. Lacan calls this third term the [[imaginary phallus]]. The [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] is what the [[child]] assumes someone must have in order for [[them]] to be the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] and, as her [[desire]] is usually directed towards the [[father]], it is assumed that he possesses the [[phallus]]. Through trying to satisfy the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], the [[child]] identifies with the object that it presumes she has lost and attempts to become that [[object]] for her.
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<!--
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((In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], then, the [[child]] realizes that both he and the [[mother]] are marked by a [[lack]].  The [[mother]] is marked by [[lack]], since she is seen to be [[lack|incomplete]]; otherwise, she would not [[desire]]. The [[lack]]ing element is the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].  ))
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The [[mother]] [[desire]]s the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s, and (in conformity with [[Hegel]]'s theory of [[desire]]) the [[subject]] seeks to become the [[object]] of her [[desire]]; he seeks to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]] and fill out her [[lack]]. The [[child]] seeks to [[identification|identify]] with what he or she supposes to be the [[object]] of her [[desire]], with the object that the mother supposedly [[lacks]], the object that is capable of filling in the lack in the other is the phallus.
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<blockquote>What the child wants is to become the desire of [[desire,]] to be able to satisfy the mother's desire, that is, "to be or not to be" the object of the mother's desire.... To please the mother ...it is necessary and sufficient to be the phallus.  7  [ Lacan 1957-1958, seminar of January 22, 1958 ]</blockquote>
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-->
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<!-- At this point, the [[mother]] is omnipotent and her [[desire]] is the [[law]].  Although this omnipotence may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the [[sense]] of [[threat]] is intensified when the [[child]]'s own sexual [[drive]]s begin to [[manifest]] themselves (for example in infantile masturba­tion).  This emergence of the [[real]] of the [[drive]] introduces a discordant note of [[anxiety]] into the previously [[seductive]] [[imaginary]] [[triangle]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 225-6</ref> The [[child]] is now confronted with the realization that he cannot simply [[fool]] the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] with the [[imaginary]] [[semblance]] of a [[phallus]] - he must [[present]] something in the [[real]].  Yet the [[child]]'s real organ (whether boy or girl) is hopelessly inadequate.  This sense of inadequacy and [[impotence]] in the face of an omnipotent [[mother|maternal]] [[desire]] that cannot be placated gives rise to [[anxiety]].  Only the [[intervention]] of the [[father]] in the subsequent times of the [[Oedipus complex]] can provide a real solution to this [[anxiety]]. -->
  
The [[Oedipus complex]] emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year, when the child renounces [[desire|sexual desire]] for its parents and identifies with the rival.  
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====Second====
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The second time of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterized by the interven­tion of the [[imaginary]] [[father]]. The [[father]] imposes the [[law]] on the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] by denying her access to the [[phallic]] [[object]] and [[prohibition|forbidding]] the [[subject]] access to the [[mother]].  [[Lacan]] often refers to this intervention as the "[[castration]]" of the [[mother]], even though he states that, properly [[speaking]], the operation is not one of [[castration]] but of [[privation]]. 
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<!-- This intervention is mediated by the [[discourse]] of the [[mother]]; in other [[words]], what is important is not that the [[real]] [[father]] step in and impose the [[law]], but that this [[law]] be respected by the [[mother]] herself in both her words and her actions.  The [[subject]] now sees the [[father]] as a rival for the [[mother]]'s [[desire]]. -->
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<!-- In this second [[position]], the father intervenes, either directly or through the mother's discourse, as the omnipotent and prohibiting figure, putting in question and forbidding the desire of the mother (le [[désir]] de la Mère), laying down the law and permitting identification with him as the one who has the phallus.  ((He says, as it were, to the child, "no you won't [[sleep]] with your mother"; and to the mother, "No, the child is not your phallus. I have it." -->
  
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====Third====
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The third 'time' of the [[Oedipus complex]] is marked by the intervention of the [[real]] [[father]].
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<!--
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The father appear as the one who reinstates the phallus as the desired object of the mother, rather than as the terrifying, [[castrating]], omnipotent father who can deprive her.
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-->
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By showing that he has the [[phallus]], and neither exchanges it nor gives it,<ref>{{S3}} p. 319</ref>, the [[real]] [[father]] [[castration|castrates]] the [[child]], in the sense of making it [[impossible]] for the [[child]] to persist in trying to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]]; it is no use competing with the [[real]] [[father]], because he always wins.<ref>{{S4}} pp. 208-9, 227</ref>  The [[subject]] is freed from the impossible and [[anxiety]]-­provoking task of having to be the [[phallus]] by realizing that the [[father]] has it.  This allows the [[subject]] to [[identify]] with the [[father]]. 
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<!--In this secondary ([[symbolic]]) [[identification]] the [[subject]] transcends the [[aggressivity]] inherent in primary ([[imaginary]]) [[identification]]. -->
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[[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]] in arguing that the [[superego]] is formed out of this [[Oedipal]] [[identification]] with the [[father]].<ref>{{S4}} p. 415</ref>
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<!-- The [[Oedipus complex]] marks the transition from the [[imaginary]] to the [[symbolic]]. Through the intervention of a third term, the [[Name-of-the-Father]], that closed circuit of mutual desire between the [[mother]] and [[child]] is broken and a [[space]] is created, within which the [[child]] can begin to identify itself as a [[separate]] being from the [[mother]]. [[Lacan]] calls this third term the [[Name-of-the-Father]], because it does not have to be the real father, or even a male figure, but is a [[symbolic position]] that the child perceives to be the location of the object of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]]. It is also, as we will see, a position of authority and the [[symbolic]] [[law]] that intervenes to [[prohibit]] the [[child]]'s [[desire]]. For [[Lacan]], the key [[signifier]] that this whole process turns upon is the [[phallus]]. -->
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<!--
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==Structure==
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Since the [[symbolic]] is the realm of the [[law]], and since the [[Oedipus complex]] is the conquest of the [[symbolic order]], it has a [[normative]] and normalizing function.  "The Oedipus complex is essential for the human being to be able to accede to a humanized structure of the real."<ref>{{S3}} p.198</ref> This normative function is to be [[understood]] in reference to both [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and the question of [[sexuality]].
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-->
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<!--
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===Psychopathology===
 
[[Freud]] argued that all psychopathological [[structure]]s could be traced to a malfunction in the [[Oedipus complex]], which was thus dubbed "the nuclear complex of the neuroses".  
 
[[Freud]] argued that all psychopathological [[structure]]s could be traced to a malfunction in the [[Oedipus complex]], which was thus dubbed "the nuclear complex of the neuroses".  
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-->
  
Although the term does not appear in [[Freud]]'s writings until 1910, traces of its origins can be found much earlier in his work, and by 1910 it was already showing signs of the central importance that it was to acquire in all [[psychoanalytic theory]] thereafter.
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=====Clinical Structures=====
 
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In accordance with [[Freud]]'s view of the [[Oedipus complex]] as the root of all [[psychopathology]], [[Lacan]] relates all the [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s to difficulties in this [[complex]]. Since it is impossible to resolve the [[complex]] completely, a completely non-pathological position does not [[exist]]. The closest [[thing]] is a [[neurotic]] [[structure]]; the [[neurotic]] has come through all three times of the [[Oedipus complex]], and there is no such thing as a [[neurosis without [[Oedipus]]. On the other hand, [[psychosis]], [[perversion]] and [[phobia]] result when "something is essentially incomplete in the Oedipus complex."<ref>{{S2}} p.201</ref> In [[psychosis]], there is a fundamental blockage even before the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]].  
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In [[perversion]], the [[complex]] is carried through to the third time, but instead of [[identifying]] with the [[father]], the [[subject]] [[identifies]] with the [[mother]] and/or the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]], thus harking back to the [[imaginary]] [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]].  
 
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A [[phobia]] arises when the [[subject]] cannot make the transition from the second time of the [[Oedipus complex]] to the third time because the [[real]] [[father]] does not intervene; the [[phobia]] then functions as a [[substitute]] for the intervention of the [[real]] [[father]], thus permitting the [[subject]] to make the passage to the third time of the [[Oedipus complex]] (though often in an atypical way).
[[Lacan]] first addresses the [[Oedipus complex]] in his 1938 article on the [[family complexes|family]], where he argues that it is the last and most important of the three "family complexes."
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<!--
 
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=====Psychopathology=====
At this point his account of the [[Oedipus complex]] does not differ from [[Freud]]'s, his only originality being to emphasise its historical and cultural relativity, taking his cue from the anthropological studies by Malinowski and others.<ref>{{L}} 1938: 66</ref>
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Failure to negotiate this transition is held by all [[schools]] of psychoanalysis to be the primary [[cause]] of [neurosis]].
 
 
------------
 
 
 
It is in the 1950s that [[Lacan]] begins to develop his own distinctive conception of the [[Oedipus complex]].
 
 
 
Though he always follows [[Freud]] in regarding the [[Oedipus complex]] as the central complex in the [[unconscious]], he now begins to differ from [[Freud]] on a number of important points.
 
 
 
The most important of these is that in [[Lacan]]'s view, the [[subject]] always desires the [[mother]], and the [[father]] is always the rival, irrespective of whether the [[subject]] is [[male]] or [[female]].
 
 
 
Consequently, in [[Lacan]]'s account the [[male]] [[subject]] experiences the [[Oedipus complex]] in a radically asymmetrical way to the [[female]] [[subject]].
 
 
 
------------
 
 
 
The [[Oedipus complex]] is, for [[Lacan]], the paradigmatic triangular [[structure]], which contrasts with all [[dual relation]]s (though see the final paragraph below).
 
 
 
The key function in the [[Oedipus complex]] is thus that of the [[father]], the third term which transforms the [[dual relation]] between [[mother]] and [[child]] into a [[triad]]ic [[structure]].
 
 
 
The [[Oedipus complex]] is thus nothing less than the passage from the [[imaginary]] [[order]] to the [[symbolic order]], "the conquest of the symbolic relation as such."<ref>{{S3}} p.199</ref>
 
 
 
The fact that the passage to the [[symbolic]] passes via a complex sexual [[dialectic]] means that the [[subject]] cannot have access to the [[symbolic order]] without confronting the problem of [[sexual difference]].
 
 
 
----------------
 
 
 
In ''[[Seminar|The Seminar, Book V]]'', [[Lacan]] analyses this passage from the [[imaginary]] to the [[symbolic]] by [[identification|identifying]] three "times" of the [[Oedipus complex]], the sequence being one of logical rather than chronological priority.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref>
 
 
 
------------
 
 
 
The first time of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised by the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] of [[mother]], [[child]] and [[phallus]].
 
 
 
In the previous [[seminar]] of 1956-7, [[Lacan]] calls this the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]].
 
 
 
However, whether this [[triangle]] is regarded as [[preoedipal]] or as a moment in the [[Oedipus complex]] itself, the main point is the same: namely, that prior to the invention of the [[father]] there is never a purely [[dual relation]] between the [[mother]] and the [[child]] but always a third term, the [[phallus]], an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[mother]] [[desire]]s beyond the [[child]] himself (S4, 240-1).
 
 
 
[[Lacan]] hints that the presence of the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]] as a third term in the [[imaginary]] [[triangle]] indicates that the [[symbolic]] [[father]] is already functioning at this time.<ref>{{L}} 1957-8: [[seminar]] of 22 January 1958</ref>
 
 
 
------------
 
 
 
In the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]], then, the [[child]] realises that both he and the [[mother]] are marked by a [[lack]].
 
 
 
The [[mother]] is marked by [[lack]], since she is seen to be incomplete; otherwise, she would not [[desire]].
 
 
 
The [[subject]] is also marked by a [[lack]], since he does not completely [[satisfy]] the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].
 
 
 
The [[lack]]ing element in both cases is the [[imaginary]] [[phallus]].
 
 
 
The [[mother]] [[desire]]s the [[phallus]] she [[lack]]s, and (in conformity with [[Hegel]]'s theory of [[desire]]) the [[subject]] seeks to become the [[object]] of her [[desire]]; he seeks to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]] and fill out her [[lack]].
 
 
 
At this point, the [[mother]] is omnipotent and her [[desire]] is the [[law]].
 
 
 
Although this omnipotence may be seen as threatening from the very beginning, the sense of threat is intensified when the [[child]]'s own sexual [[drive]]s begin to manifest themselves (for example in infantile masturba­tion).
 
 
 
This emergence of the [[real]] of the [[drive]] introduces a discordant note of [[anxiety]] into the previously seductive [[imaginary]] [[triangle]].<ref>{{S4}} p.225-6</ref>
 
 
 
The [[child]] is now confronted with the realisation that he cannot simply fool the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] with the [[imaginary]] [[semblance]] of a [[phallus]] -- he must present something in the [[real]].
 
 
 
Yet the [[child]]'s real organ (whether boy or girl) is hopelessly inadequate.
 
 
 
This sense of inadequacy and impotence in the face of an omnipotent maternal [[desire]] that cannot be placated gives rise to [[anxiety]].
 
 
 
Only the intervention of the [[father]] in the subsequent times of the [[Oedipus complex]] can provide a real solution to this [[anxiety]].
 
 
 
------------
 
 
 
The second 'time' of the [[Oedipus complex]] is characterised by the interven­tion of the [[imaginary]] [[father]].
 
 
 
The [[father]] imposes the [[law]] on the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] by denying her access to the [[phallic]] [[object]] and forbidding the [[subject]] access to the [[mother]].
 
 
 
[[Lacan]] often refers to this intervention as the "[[castration]]" of the [[mother]], even though he states that, properly speaking, the operation is not one of [[castration]] but of [[privation]].
 
 
 
This intervention is mediated by the [[discourse]] of the [[mother]]; in other words, what is important is not that the [[real]] [[father]] step in and impose the [[law]], but that this [[law]] be respected by the [[mother]] herself in both her words and her actions.
 
 
 
The [[subject]] now sees the [[father]] as a rival for the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].
 
 
 
-------------
 
 
 
The third 'time' of the [[Oedipus complex]] is marked by the intervention of the [[real]] [[father]].
 
 
 
By showing that he has the [[phallus]], and neither exchanges it nor gives it (S3, 319), the [[real]] [[father]] [[castration|castrates]] the [[child]], in the sense of making it impossible for the [[child]] to persist in trying to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]]; it is no use competing with the [[real]] [[father]], because he always wins.<ref>{{S4}} p.208-9, 227</ref>
 
 
 
The [[subject]] is freed from the impossible and [[anxiety]]-­provoking task of having to be the phallus by realising that the [[father]] has it.
 
 
 
This allows the [[subject]] to [[identify]] with the [[father]].
 
 
 
In this secondary ([[symbolic]]) [[identification]] the [[subject]] transcends the [[aggressivity]] inherent in primary ([[imaginary]]) [[identification]].
 
 
 
[[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]] in arguing that the [[superego]] is formed out of this [[Oedipal]] [[identification]] with the [[father]].<ref>{{S4}} p.415</ref>
 
 
 
-------------
 
 
 
Since the [[symbolic]] is the realm of the [[law]], and since the [[Oedipus complex]] is the conquest of the [[symbolic order]], it has a normative and normalising function.
 
 
 
<blockquote>"The Oedipus complex is essential for the human being to be able to accede to a humanized structure of the real."<ref>{{S3}} p.198</ref></blockquote>
 
 
 
This normative function is to be understood in reference to both [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s and the question of [[sexuality]].
 
 
 
 
 
=====The Oedipus complex and clinical structures=====
 
In accordance with [[Freud]]'s view of the [[Oedipus complex]] as the root of all psychopathology, [[Lacan]] relates all the [[clinic]]al [[structure]]s to difficulties in this [[complex]].  
 
 
 
Since it is impossible to resolve the [[complex]] completely, a completely non-pathological position does not [[exist]].  
 
 
 
The closest thing is a [[neurotic]] [[structure]]; the [[neurotic]] has come through all three times of the [[Oedipus complex]], and there is no such thing as a [[neurosis without [[Oedipus]].  
 
 
 
On the other hand, [[psychosis]], [[perversion]] and [[phobia]] result when "something is essentially incomplete in the Oedipus complex."<ref>{{S2}} p.201</ref>  
 
 
 
In [[psychosis]], there is a fundamental blockage even before the first time of the [[Oedipus complex]].  
 
 
 
In [[perversion]], the [[complex]] is carried through to the third time, but instead of identifying with the father, the subject identifies with the mother and/or the imaginary phallus, thus harking back to the imaginary preoedipal triangle.  
 
 
 
A phobia arises when the subject cannot make the transition from the second time of the [[Oedipus complex]] to the third time because the [[real]] [[father]] does not intervene; the [[phobia]] then functions as a substitute for the intervention of the [[real]] [[father]], thus permitting the [[subject]] to make the passage to the third time of the [[Oedipus complex]] (though often in an atypical way).  
 
  
 +
The Oedipus complex or conflict is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to explain the origin of certain neuroses in childhood [[Freud]] argued that all psychopathological [[structure]]s could be traced to a malfunction in the [[Oedipus complex]], which was thus dubbed "the nuclear complex of the neuroses". The Oedipus complex is closely connected to the castration complex. Resolution of the Oedipus complex is believed to occur by identification with the parent of the same sex and by the [[renunciation]] of sexual interest in the parent of the opposite sex. Freud considered this complex the cornerstone of the superego and the nucleus of all human relationships.
 +
-->
 +
<!--
 
=====The Oedipus complex and sexuality=====
 
=====The Oedipus complex and sexuality=====
It is the particular way the [[subject]] navigates his passage through the [[Oedipus complex]] that determines both his assumption of a sexual position and his choice of a sexual object (on the question of object choice<ref>{{S4}} p.201</ref>).  
+
It is the particular way the [[subject]] navigates his passage through the [[Oedipus complex]] that determines both his assumption of a [[sexual position]] and his [[choice]] of a sexual object (on the question of object choice<ref>{{S4}} p.201</ref>).  
 
+
-->
-------------
 
 
 
In his [[seminar]] of 1969-70, [[Lacan]] re-examines the [[Oedipus complex]], and analyses the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] as one of [[Freud]]'s [[dream]]s.<ref>{{S17}} Ch. 8</ref>  
 
 
 
In this [[seminar]] (though not for the first time<ref>{{S7}}</ref>) [[Lacan]] compares the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] with the other [[Freud]]ian [[myth]]s (the [[myth]] of the [[father]] of the horde in ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'', and the [[myth]] of the murder of Moses<ref>{{F}} 1912-13; 1939a</ref>) and argues that the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' is structurally opposite to the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]].
 
 
 
In the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]], the murder of the [[father]] allows [[Oedipus]] to enjoy sexual relations with his [[mother]], whereas in the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' the murder of the [[father]], far from allowing access to the [[father]]'s [[women]], only reinforces the [[Law]] which forbids [[incest]].<ref>{{S7}} p.176</ref>
 
 
 
[[Lacan]] argues that in this respect the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' is more accurate than the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]]; the former shows that [[enjoyment]] of the [[mother ]]is impossible, whereas the latter presents [[enjoyment]] of the [[mother]] as forbidden but not impossible.
 
 
 
In the [[Oedipus complex]] a prohibition of ''[[jouissance]]'' thus serves to hide the impossibility of this ''[[jouissance]]''; the [[subject]] can thus persist in the [[neurotic]] [[illusion]] that, were it not for the [[Law]] which forbids it, ''[[jouissance]]'' would be possible.
 
 
 
-------------
 
  
In his reference to fourfold models, [[Lacan]] makes an implicit criticism of all triangular models of the [[Oedipus complex]].  
+
<!--
 +
In his [[seminar]] of 1969-70, [[Lacan]] re-examines the [[Oedipus complex]], and analyzes the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] as one of [[Freud]]'s [[dream]]s.<ref>{{S17}} Ch. 8</ref> In this [[seminar]] (though not for the first time<ref>{{S7}}</ref>) [[Lacan]] compares the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]] with the other [[Freud]]ian [[myth]]s (the [[myth]] of the [[father]] of the [[horde]] in ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'', and the [[myth]] of the murder of [[Moses]]<ref>{{F}} 1912-13; 1939a</ref>) and argues that the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' is structurally opposite to the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]].  In the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]], the murder of the [[father]] allows [[Oedipus]] to [[enjoy]] [[sexual relations]] with his [[mother]], whereas in the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' the murder of the [[father]], far from allowing access to the [[father]]'s [[women]], only reinforces the [[Law]] which forbids [[incest]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 176</ref>  [[Lacan]] argues that in this respect the [[myth]] of ''[[Totem and Taboo]]'' is more accurate than the [[myth]] of [[Oedipus]]; the former shows that [[enjoyment]] of the [[mother ]]is impossible, whereas the latter presents [[enjoyment]] of the [[mother]] as [[forbidden]] but not impossible.  In the [[Oedipus complex]] a [[prohibition]] of ''[[jouissance]]'' thus serves to hide the [[impossibility]] of this ''[[jouissance]]''; the [[subject]] can thus persist in the [[neurotic]] [[illusion]] that, were it not for the [[Law]] which forbids it, ''[[jouissance]]'' would be possible.
 +
-->
 +
<!--
 +
In his reference to fourfold models, [[Lacan]] makes an implicit criticism of all triangular models of the [[Oedipus complex]]. (** Thus, though the [[Oedipus complex]] can be seen as the transition from a [[dual relation]]ship to a [[triangular]] [[structure]], [[Lacan]] argues that it is more accurately represented as the transition from a [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[phallus]]) to an [[Oedipal]] [[quaternary]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[father]]-[[phallus]]). **) [[Another]] possibility is to see the [[Oedipus complex]] as a transition from the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[phallus]]) to the [[Oedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[father]]).
 +
-->
  
Thus, though the [[Oedipus complex]] can be seen as the transition from a [[dual relation]]ship to a [[triangular]] [[structure]], [[Lacan]] argues that it is more accurately represented as the transition from a [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[phallus]]) to an [[Oedipal]] [[quaternary]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[father]]-[[phallus]]).
+
==See Also==
 +
{{See}}
 +
* [[Castration complex]]
 +
* [[Desire]]
 +
||
 +
* [[Development]]
 +
* [[Father]]
 +
||
 +
* [[Law]]
 +
* [[Mother]]
 +
||
 +
* [[Name-of-the-Father]]
 +
* [[Phallus]]
 +
{{Also}}
  
Another possibility is to see the [[Oedipus complex]] as a transition from the [[preoedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[phallus]]) to the [[Oedipal]] [[triangle]] ([[mother]]-[[child]]-[[father]]).
+
{{OK}}

Latest revision as of 20:18, 20 May 2019

French: [[complexe d'Oedipe]]

Sigmund Freud

The "Oedipus complex" is a concept used by Sigmund Freud to refer to the unconscious sexual desire of the child - especially a male child - for the parent of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by hostility and rivalry with the parent of the same sex.

The complex is named after Oedipus, a prominent figure in Greek mythology who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.

Phallic Phase

The Oedipus complex emerges in the third year of life and then declines in the fifth year, and coincides with the phallic stage of psychosexual development.


Jacques Lacan

Symbolic Structure

The Oedipus complex is, for Lacan, the paradigmatic triangular structure, which contrasts with all dual relations (though see the final paragraph below). The key function in the Oedipus complex is thus that of the father, the third term which transforms the dual relation between mother and child into a triadic structure. The Oedipus complex is thus nothing less than the passage from the imaginary order to the symbolic order, "the conquest of the symbolic relation as such."[1] The fact that the passage to the symbolic passes via a complex sexual dialectic means that the subject cannot have access to the symbolic order without confronting the problem of sexual difference.

Times

In The Seminar, Book V, Lacan analyzes this passage from the imaginary to the symbolic by identifying three "times" of the Oedipus complex, the sequence being one of logical rather than chronological priority.[2]

First

In the first time of the Oedipus complex, the child slowly comes to realize that it is not identical to, or the sole object of, the mother's desire, as her desire is directed elsewhere. He or she will therefore attempt to satisfy her desire by becoming the object of her desire. The dyadic relationship between the mother and child is thus turned into a triangular relationship between the child, the mother and the object of her desire. Lacan calls this third term the imaginary phallus. The imaginary phallus is what the child assumes someone must have in order for them to be the object of the mother's desire and, as her desire is usually directed towards the father, it is assumed that he possesses the phallus. Through trying to satisfy the mother's desire, the child identifies with the object that it presumes she has lost and attempts to become that object for her.

Second

The second time of the Oedipus complex is characterized by the interven­tion of the imaginary father. The father imposes the law on the mother's desire by denying her access to the phallic object and forbidding the subject access to the mother. Lacan often refers to this intervention as the "castration" of the mother, even though he states that, properly speaking, the operation is not one of castration but of privation.

Third

The third 'time' of the Oedipus complex is marked by the intervention of the real father. By showing that he has the phallus, and neither exchanges it nor gives it,[3], the real father castrates the child, in the sense of making it impossible for the child to persist in trying to be the phallus for the mother; it is no use competing with the real father, because he always wins.[4] The subject is freed from the impossible and anxiety-­provoking task of having to be the phallus by realizing that the father has it. This allows the subject to identify with the father. Lacan follows Freud in arguing that the superego is formed out of this Oedipal identification with the father.[5]

Clinical Structures

In accordance with Freud's view of the Oedipus complex as the root of all psychopathology, Lacan relates all the clinical structures to difficulties in this complex. Since it is impossible to resolve the complex completely, a completely non-pathological position does not exist. The closest thing is a neurotic structure; the neurotic has come through all three times of the Oedipus complex, and there is no such thing as a [[neurosis without Oedipus. On the other hand, psychosis, perversion and phobia result when "something is essentially incomplete in the Oedipus complex."[6] In psychosis, there is a fundamental blockage even before the first time of the Oedipus complex. In perversion, the complex is carried through to the third time, but instead of identifying with the father, the subject identifies with the mother and/or the imaginary phallus, thus harking back to the imaginary preoedipal triangle. A phobia arises when the subject cannot make the transition from the second time of the Oedipus complex to the third time because the real father does not intervene; the phobia then functions as a substitute for the intervention of the real father, thus permitting the subject to make the passage to the third time of the Oedipus complex (though often in an atypical way).


See Also

  1. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p.199
  2. Lacan, Jacques. 1957-8: seminar of 22 January 1958
  3. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p. 319
  4. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. pp. 208-9, 227
  5. Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p. 415
  6. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book II. The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, 1954-55. Trans. Sylvana Tomaselli. New York: Nortion; Cambridge: Cambridge Unviersity Press, 1988. p.201