Difference between revisions of "Structuralism"

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=Lacan=
 
  
In the 1950s, Lacan emphasized the role of language and the symbolic order.
 
  
Lacan was ''not'' a Strcturalist in any strict sense of the term, however, for two reasons.
 
  
First, Structuralism sought to dissolve the subject completely and saw subjects as merely the 'effect' of symbolic structures.
 
  
Lacan, on the other hand, while seeking to locate the constitution of the subject in relation to the symbolic, does not see the subject as simply reducible to an effect of language or the symbolic order.
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[[Lacan]] drew heavily from the [[structuralism|structuralist approach]], but he was ''not'' a [[structuralism|structuralist]] for two important reasons.
  
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First, while [[structuralism]] viewed the [[subject]] as a mere effect of [[symbolic]] [[structure]]s, [[Lacan]] argued that the [[subject]] is not simply reducible to an effect of [[language]] and the [[symbolic|symbolic order]].
  
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Second, for [[Structuralism]], a [[structure]] is always [[complete]], while for [[Lacan]] the [[structure]] - the [[symbolic order]] - is never [[complete]]. There is always something [[left]] over; an [[excess]] or something that exceeds the [[symbolic]]. What exceeds the [[symbolic]] is the [[subject]] and the [[object]].
  
Second, for Structuralism, a structure is always complete, while for Lacan the structure - the symbolic order - is never complete.
 
  
There is always something left over; an excess or something that exceeds the symbolic.
 
  
What exceeds the symbolic is the subject and the object.
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[[Category:Terms]]
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[[Category:Concepts]]
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[[Category:Philosophy]]
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[[Category:Theory]]

Latest revision as of 23:55, 20 May 2019



Lacan drew heavily from the structuralist approach, but he was not a structuralist for two important reasons.

First, while structuralism viewed the subject as a mere effect of symbolic structures, Lacan argued that the subject is not simply reducible to an effect of language and the symbolic order.

Second, for Structuralism, a structure is always complete, while for Lacan the structure - the symbolic order - is never complete. There is always something left over; an excess or something that exceeds the symbolic. What exceeds the symbolic is the subject and the object.