Difference between revisions of "Signification"

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=====Jacques Lacan=====
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=====Early Work=====
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In [[Lacan]]'s pre-1950s writings, the term "[[signification]]'' is used in a general way to connote both [[meaning]]fulness and importance.<ref>{{Ec}} p.81</ref>
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=====Example=====
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In 1946, for example, [[Lacan]] criticizes organicist [[psychiatry]] for ignoring "the significance of madness."<ref>{{Ec}} p.167, 153-4</ref>
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=====Later Work=====
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=====Symbolic Order=====
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In the period 1953-7 the term retains these vague associations with the realm of [[meaning]] and [[language]], and is thus located in the [[symbolic order]].<ref>{{S4}} p.121</ref>
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=====Latest Work=====
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=====Imaginary Order=====
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It is from 1957 on that [[Lacan]]'s use of the term takes on a direct reference to the [[Saussurean]] concept, and shifts from the [[symbolic]] to the [[imaginary]] order.
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=====Ferdinand de Saussure=====
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=====Relation between Signifier and Signified=====
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[[Saussure]] reserves the term "[[signification]]" for the relation between the [[signifier]] and the [[signified]]; each sound-image is said to "signify" a concept.<ref>[[Saussure|Saussure, Ferdinand de]]. (1916) ''[[Saussure|Course in General Linguistics]]'', ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. p.114</ref>
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[[Signification]] is, for [[Saussure]], an unbreakable bond; the [[signifier]] and the [[signified]] are inseparable as the two sides of a sheet of paper.
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=====Jacques Lacan=====
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=====Relation between Signifier and Signified=====
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[[Image:SAUSSUREANALGORITHM.gif|right|thumb|Saussurean algorithm|The Saussurean algorithm]]
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[[Lacan]] argues that the relationship between [[signifier]] and [[signified]] is far more precarious; he sees the [[bar]] between them in the [[Saussurean algorithm]] as representing not a bond but a rupture, a "resistance" to [[signification]].<ref>{{E}} p.164</ref>
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=====Primacy of the Signifier=====
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Firstly, the [[signifier]] is logically prior to the [[signified]], which is merely an effect of the play of [[signifier]]s.
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=====Slippage=====
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Secondly, even when [[signified]]s are produced, they constantly [[slip]] and slide underneath the [[signifier]]; the only things that detain this movement temporarily, pinning the [[signifier]] to the [[signified]] for a brief moment and creating the [[delusion|illusion]] of a stable [[meaning]], are the [[points de capiton]].
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=====Metaphor and Metonymy=====
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[[Signification]] is, in [[Lacan]]'s work, not a stable bond between [[signifier]] and [[signified]], but a process -- the process by which the play of [[signifier]]s produces the [[delusion|illusion]] of the [[signified]] via the two tropes of [[metonymy]] and [[metaphor]].
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==See Also==
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* [[Index]]
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* [[Language]]
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* [[Metaphor]]
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* [[Materialism]]
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* [[Signifier]]
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* [[Signified]]
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* [[Signifying Chain]]
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* [[Shifter]]
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* [[Subject]]
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* [[Symbol]]
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== References ==
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<references/>
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Linguistics]]
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[[Category:Dictionary]]
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[[Category:Language]]
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[[Category:Symbolic]]
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[[Category:Concepts]]
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[[Category:Terms]]
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[[Category:OK]]
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__NOTOC__

Revision as of 08:47, 18 August 2006


Jacques Lacan
Early Work

In Lacan's pre-1950s writings, the term "signification is used in a general way to connote both meaningfulness and importance.[1]

Example

In 1946, for example, Lacan criticizes organicist psychiatry for ignoring "the significance of madness."[2]

Later Work
Symbolic Order

In the period 1953-7 the term retains these vague associations with the realm of meaning and language, and is thus located in the symbolic order.[3]

Latest Work
Imaginary Order

It is from 1957 on that Lacan's use of the term takes on a direct reference to the Saussurean concept, and shifts from the symbolic to the imaginary order.

Ferdinand de Saussure
Relation between Signifier and Signified

Saussure reserves the term "signification" for the relation between the signifier and the signified; each sound-image is said to "signify" a concept.[4]

Signification is, for Saussure, an unbreakable bond; the signifier and the signified are inseparable as the two sides of a sheet of paper.

Jacques Lacan
Relation between Signifier and Signified
The Saussurean algorithm

Lacan argues that the relationship between signifier and signified is far more precarious; he sees the bar between them in the Saussurean algorithm as representing not a bond but a rupture, a "resistance" to signification.[5]

Primacy of the Signifier

Firstly, the signifier is logically prior to the signified, which is merely an effect of the play of signifiers.

Slippage

Secondly, even when signifieds are produced, they constantly slip and slide underneath the signifier; the only things that detain this movement temporarily, pinning the signifier to the signified for a brief moment and creating the illusion of a stable meaning, are the points de capiton.

Metaphor and Metonymy

Signification is, in Lacan's work, not a stable bond between signifier and signified, but a process -- the process by which the play of signifiers produces the illusion of the signified via the two tropes of metonymy and metaphor.

















See Also


References

  1. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.81
  2. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.167, 153-4
  3. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre IV. La relation d'objet, 19566-57. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p.121
  4. ↑ Saussure, Ferdinand de. (1916) Course in General Linguistics, ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin, Glasgow: Collins Fontana. p.114
  5. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.164


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