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{| align="left" style="margin-right:10px;line-height:2.0em;text-align:left;align:left;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #aaa"
| [[French]]: ''[[mathème{{Bottom}}
The [[matheme]] is a concept introduced in the [[{{LB}}|work]] of [[Jacques Lacan]]. The "[[matheme]]" is a neologism coined by [[Jacques Lacan]] in the early 1970s. Formed by derivation from "[[mathematics]]" and by analogy with [[phoneme]] and [[Lévi-Strauss]]'s [[mytheme]],<ref>''Mytheme'' is a term coined by [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] to denote the basic constituents of mythological systems.</ref> the term is an equivalent to "[[algebra|mathematical sign]]". It is not used in conventional [[mathematics]], but is part of [[Lacan]]'s [[algebra]].
==Schema L==
[[Image:Lacan-schemal.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Schema L]]
In 1955, [[Lacan]] introduced what could be called his first [[matheme]], the relatively simple "'''[[schema L]]'''", illustrating the [[imaginary|imaginary function]] of the [[ego]].
'''[[Schema L]]''' [[identification|identifies]] four points in the [[signifying chain]]:
# [[Image:Biga.gif]], the [[unconscious]] or the "[[discourse]] of the [[Other]]]", and then .
# [[Image:Smalls.gif]], the [[subject]], which in turn results from the relation between
# [[Image:Smalla.gif]], the [[ego]] and
# [[Image:Smalla'.gif]], the [[counterpart|other]].
==Signifier==
[[Image:SAUSSUREANALGORITHM.gif|thumb|100px|right|Saussurean algorithm|The Saussurean algorithm]]
Perhaps the most familiar [[matheme]] is the "[[matheme|algorithm]]" which in 1957 replaces [[Saussure]]'s simple diagram / arbor with the notion '''S/s'''. In 1957, [[Lacan]] replaces [[Saussure]]'s diagram of the [[sign]] with what is now referred to as the "'''[[Saussurean algorithm]]'''".<ref>{{E}} p. 149</ref> The [[matheme]] links the [[law]]s of the [[unconscious]] discovered by [[Freud]] to the [[law]]s of [[language]] ([[metaphor]] and [[metonymy]]).
This is to be understood as demonstrating that the [[signifier]] is above the [[signified]] , showing the primacy of the [[signifier]] (which is capitalized, whereas the [[signifier]] is reduced to mere lower-case italic), and that the two are separated by a [[bar]] that resists [[signification]] and forces the [[signifier]] to [[slip|slide]] endlessly.<ref>{{L}} "[[The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud|L'instance de la lettre dans l'inconscient ou la raison depuis Freud]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966: 493-528 ["[[The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason Since Freud|The agency of the letter in the unconscious or reason since Freud]]." Trans. [[Alan Sheridan]] ''[[Écrits: A Selection]]''. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1977: 146-78].</ref>
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Algebra]]
* [[Drive]]
||
* [[Fantasy]]
* [[Graph of desire]]
||
* [[Knowledge]]
* [[Mathematics]]
||
* [[Signification]]
* [[Structure]]
||
* [[Subject]]
* [[Symbol]]
{{Also}}
==References==
<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>
=====Extra=====
=====Unsorted=====
They are formulae designed as symbolic representations of his ideas and analyses.
They were intended to introduce some degree of scientific rigour in [[philosophy|philosophical]] and [[psychology|psychological]] [[{{LB}}|writing]], replacing the often hard to understand verbal descriptions with formulae resembling those used in the [[science|hard sciences]], and as an easy way to hold, [[memory|remember]] and rehearse some of the core ideas of both [[Freud]] and [[Lacan]].
For example: $ <> a is the [[matheme]] for [[fantasy]] for [[Lacan]].
"Matheme", for Lacan, was not simply the imitation of science by philosophy, but the ideal of a perfect means for the integral transmission of knowledge.
Natural language, with its constant "metonymic slide", fails here, where mathematics succeeds.
Though sometimes disparaged as a case of "physics envy" or accused of introducing false rigor into a discpline that is more literary theory than hard science, there is also something of a sense of humor in Lacan's mathemes.
=====More=====
[[Lacan]] begins to use a variety of graphs and 'schemata' at an early stage in his work.
Originally used as teaching aids, these range from teh relatively simply '[[schema L]]' illustrating the [[imaginary]] function of the [[ego]] in the 1966 pape on [[psychosis]] to the complex chart of the workings of [[desire]] (1960).
=====More=====
The graphs and schemata gradually become more complex, and are eventually replaced by an "[[algebra]]" of "little letters" or [[matheme]]s in which, for instance, "P" is the [[symbolic]] [[fahter]], and "M" the [[symbolic]] [[mother]].
The function of the [[formalization]] that results in the emergence of the [[amtheme]] is said by [[Lacan]] to be the integral transmission of his teachings on [[psychoanalysis]].<BR>{{S20}}
=====More=====
The two '''formulae''' which are most often referred to as [[matheme]]s were created in 1957 to designate points in the [[graph of desire]].
These [[algebra|formulae]], which were both created to designate points in the [[graph of desire]], are the [[matheme]] for the [[drive]], ('''$ <> D'''), and the [[matheme]] for [[fantasy]], ('''$ <> ''a''''').
=====More=====
The [[structural]] parallel between the two [[matheme]]s is clear; they are both composed of two [[algebra]]ic [[symbol]]s conjoined by a rhomboid (the [[symbol]] '''<>''', which [[Lacan]] calls the ''poinçon'') and enclosed by brackets.
The rhomboid [[symbolize]]s a relation between the two [[symbol]]s, which includes the relations of "envelopment-development-conjunction-disjunction."<ref>{{E}} p.280</ref>
=====More=====
[[Lacan]] argues that the [[matheme]]s are "not transcendent signifiers; they are the indices of an absolute signification."<ref>{{E}} p. 314</ref>
They are "created to allow a hundred and one different readings, a multiplicity that is admissible as long as the spoken remains caught in their algebra."<ref>{{E}} p. 313</ref>
-
They are constructed to resist any attempt to reduce them to one univocal [[signification]], and to prevent the reader from an intuitive or [[imaginary]] [[knowledge|understanding]] of [[:category:concepts|psychoanalytic concepts]]: the [[mathemes]] are not to be understood but to be used.
In this way, they constitute a formal core of [[psychoanalytic theory]] which may be transmitted integrally.
<blockquote>"One certainly doesn't know what they mean, but they are transmitted."<ref>{{S20}} p. 100</ref></blockquote>
=====More=====
"[[matheme]]" (''[[mathème]]'')
The [[matheme]]s are part of [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]].
Although the term [[matheme]] is not introduced by [[Lacan]] until the early 1970s, the two formulae which are most often referred to as [[matheme]]s date from 1957.
The rhomboid symbolizes a relation between the two symbols, which includes the relations of "envelopment-development-conjunction-disjunction."<ref>{{E}} p.280</ref>
[[Lacan]] argues that the [[matheme]]s are "not transcendent signifiers; they are the indices of an absolute signification."<ref>{{E}} p.314</ref>
The '''[[matheme]]''' is a concept introduced by [[France|French]] [[psychoanalyst]] [[Jacques Lacan]].
They were intended to introduce some degree of technical rigour in [[philosophical]] and [[psychological]] writing, as an easy way to hold, remember, and rehearse some of the core [[psychoanalytic]] [[concepts]]s.
"[[Matheme]]", for [[Lacan]], was not simply the imitation of [[science]] by [[philosophy]], but the ideal of a perfect means for the integral transmission of [[knowledge]].
==Mathemes==
The main [[Lacan]]ian [[matheme]]s in order of their appearance are:
Originally used as teaching aids, these range from teh relatively simple 'schema l' illustrating the [[imaginary]] function of the [[ego]] in the 1955 paper on [[psychosis]] to the complex chart of the workings of [[desire]].
In [[Greek]], ''mathêma'' means "that which is taught."
# The "[[big graph]]" (1957) represented two different stages of the [[signifying chain]].
* [[Forumalas of Sexuation]]
* [[Signifier]]/[[signified]]
== External links ==
* [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~acp/fonts/readthis.htm Lacanian Matheme Fonts] provided by the [[Australian Centre for Psychoanalysis]]
*
==References==
* ——. [[Seminar XXI|Le Séminaire-Livre XXI, Les non-dupes errent]] ("[[Seminar XXI|Those Who Aren't Duped Err/The Names of the Father]]") 1973-1974. Unpublished [[seminar]].
