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   [[optical model]] <ref>[[French]]: ''[[{{Top}}modèle optique]]''</ref> {{Bottom}}

[[Freud]] compares the [[psyche ]] with an [[optical model|optical apparatus ]] such as a microscope or a camera in ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]''.<ref>Freud{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900. 1900a: [[SE ]] IV-V. p.: 536</ref>

[[Image:Lacan-opticalmodel.jpg|thumb|right|[[The optical model]]]][[Lacan]] also uses [[optical model|optical apparatuses ]] at several points in his [[Work of Sigmund Freud|work]].  For example, he uses the [[camera]] to provide a "[[materialist ]] definition of the phenomenon of [[consciousness]]."<ref>{{S2}} Chapter 4.</ref>  [[Lacan]] argues that [[optics]] is a useful way of approaching the [[structure]] of the [[psyche]] because [[images]] play an important [[role ]] in [[psychic]] [[structure]] <ref>{{SlS1}} p.76</ref>.  However, like [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] warns that such an approach can never provide more than rather crude analogies, since [[optical]] [[image]]s are not the same as the kind of [[image]]s which are the [[object]] of [[psychoanalytic]] [[research]].   For this [[reason]], [[Lacan]] soon replaces [[optical]] [[image]]s with [[topological]] [[figures]] which are intended to prevent [[imaginary]] [[capture]].  Nevertheless, as [[Freud]] said of his own [[optical model]]s, "we [[need ]] the assistance of provisional [[ideas]]."<ref>Freud{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900. [[SE]] IV-V: 536</ref>.

The [[optical model]] first appears in 1954 <ref>{{SlS1}} p.124</ref>, and is reproduced in the [[seminar]], [[Le transfert]], on the [[transference]] (1960-1), and elsewhere.  It is basically an optical experiment which is constructed by meansof a plane [[mirror]] and a concave [[mirror]].  The concave [[mirror]] produces a real [[image]] of an inverted flower-pot, hidden from view by a box, which is then reflected in the plane [[mirror]] to produce a [[virtual]] [[image]].  This [[virtual]] [[image]] is only [[vision|visible]] to a [[subject]] who places himself within a [[particular ]] area of [[vision]].

[[Lacan]] uses the [[opticall optical model]] to illustrate various points. Two of the most important points are the [[structure|structuring]] role of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] and the function of the [[ego-ideal]].

1.The <blockquote>"My position in [[optical modelthe imaginary]] illustrates the way that the position of the is only conceivable insofar as one finds a [[subjectguide]] in beyond the symbolic order (represented by imaginary, on the angle level of the plane mirror) determines the way in which the [[imaginary]] is articulated with the [[realsymbolic]]plane."<ref>{{S1}} p. 141</ref></blockquote>

"My position The [[optical model]] thus illustrates the primary importance of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] in [[structuring]] the [[imaginary is only conceivable insofar as one finds a guide beyond ]]. The [[action]] of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] can be compared to the rotation of the imaginaryplane [[mirror]], on which alters the level position of the [[subject]] in the [[symbolic plane."<ref>{{Sl}} p]].141</ref>

The [[optical model]] thus illustrates the primary importance of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] in [[structuring]] the [[imaginary]].  The action of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] can be compared to therotation of the plane [[mirror]], which alters the position of the [[subject]] in the [[symbolic]]. ===Ego -Ideal===2.The [[optical model]] also illustrates the function of the [[ideal ego]], which is represented in the diagram as the [[real]] [[image]], in opposition to the [[ego-ideal]], which is the [[symbolic]] guide governing the angle of the [[mirror]] and hence the position of the [[subject]].<ref>{{SlS1}} p.141</ref>. ==Figure==Figure 12 The optical modelSource: Jacques Lacan, The Seminar. Book I. Freud's Papers on Technique, trans. with notes by John Forrester, New York: Norton: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

{{See}}* [[Ego-ideal]]* [[OpticsIdeal-ego]]||* [[VisionImage]]