he term is rarely used by [[Freud]] but is central to [[Lacan]]'s reorientation of [[psychoanalytic theory]].
For [[Lacan]] the concept of the [[phallus]] refers primarily to the [[imaginary]] and [[symbolic]] value taken on by the [[biological]] [[penis]] in the ourse of the [[subject]]'s accession to [[language]] and the [[symbolic]].
the concludes that, by articulating this with phallocentrism, Lacan has created a phallogocentric system of thought.--
Although he often refers to the existence of the phallic stage in which children believe the [[penis]] to be the sole sexual organ and explain femininity in terms of [[castration]], [[Freud]] normally uses the noun '[[phallus]]' to refer to the ancient symbol of royal power.
[[Lacan]]ians often attempt to find a [[phallus]]/[[penis]] distinction in [[Freud]]'s writings, but he himself usually uses the two words as synonyms and rarely makes a clear distinction between the two.
--
[[Lacan]]'s theory of the [[phallus]] was elaborated in the 1950s.
HoweverIn the 1955-6 seminar on the psychoses (published 1981), the [[phallus]] is described as the mediating element in the [[castration complex]] and as an [[imaginary]] [[object]] which the [[child]] finally recognizes as being in the possession of its [[father]]. In [[Lacan warns his students ]]'s major paper on the significance of the [[phallus]] (1958), it is redefined as a privileged signifier which facilitates the articulation of [[desire]] and the ''logos'', and as the symbol of [[sexual difference]] itself. The [[phallus]] is the [[object]] of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]], and the [[child]] identifies with it in an attempt to satisfy both the [[mother]]'s [[desire]] and its own [[desire]] for the [[mother]]. In this recasting of [[Freud]]'s description of the [[Oedipus complex]], the [[subject]]'s insertion into [[language]] and the [[symbolic]] is a form of [[castration]] which obliges the [[child]] to recognize that it cannot possess the [[phallus]] because it is not an attribute of an individual, but a [[symbol]]. It is the complexity [[symbol]] of this [[sexual difference]] in that there is no corresponding [[female]] [[symbol might ]] or [[signifier]]; both [[male]] and [[female]] [[subject]]s are constituted as [[male]] and [[female]] with reference to it. Elsewhere [[Lacan]] describes the [[phallus]] as appearing in place of the [[lack]] of the [[signifier]] in the other (the [[mother]]) and as the [[signifier]] of [[desire]] itself (1991). --- The theory of the [[phallus]] is one of the most ocntroversial aspects of [[Lacan]]'s work and it has triggered important debates relating to the fraught relationship between [[psychoanalysis]] and [[feminism]]. It has been argued that the introduction of the concept of the [[phallus]] allows [[sexual difference]] to be missed if they simply identify understood in symbolic and non-biological terms and that it with renders obsolete the criticisms of [[psychoanalysis]] that focus on the notorious issue of [[Symbolicpenis envy]] . Conversely, it has also been said that the symbolic function ascribe to the phallusvalorizes the [[biological]] [[penis]] by making it a [[sign]] of masculine privilege, and thus naturalizes male dominance.<ref>S8, 296</ref>
The symbol For Derrida, the notion of a 'privileged signifier' is more correctly understood as designating 'the phallic functionunsatisfactory in that it contradicts [[Saussure]]'s basic thesis that [[signifier]]s acquire value and meaning only because they are different from other [[signifier]]s.<ref>S8, 298</ref>
In The idea of a privileged signifier implies the early 1970s Lacan incorporates this symbol existence of a transcendental point of origin for [[language]] as a whole, and reproduces the phallic function [[metaphysics]] of [[logocentrism]] in his formulae the form of sexuation[[phallogocentrism]].
Using predicate logic to articulate the problems of sexual difference, Lacan devises two formulae for the masculine position and two formulae for the feminine position.
All four formulae revolve around the phallic function, which is here equivalent with the function of castration.
==Criticisms of Lacan ==
Of all Lacan's ideas, his concept of the phallus is perhaps the one which has given rise to most controversy.
Objections to Lacan's concept fall into two main groups.
Firstly, some feminist writers have argued that the privileged position Lacan accords to the phallus means that he merely repeats the patriarchal gestures of Freud (e.g. Grosz, 1990).
Other feminists have defended Lacan, arguing that his distinction between the phallus and the penis provides a way of accounting for sexual difference which is irreducible to biology (e.g. Mitchell and Rose, 1982).
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However, Lacan warns his students that the complexity of this symbol might be missed if they simply identify it with the [[Symbolic]] phallus.<ref>S8, 296</ref>
The second main objection to Lacansymbol is more correctly understood as designating 's concept of the phallus is that put forward by Jacques Derrida (Derridaphallic function'.<ref>S8, 1975) and echoed by others. 298</ref>
Derrida argues that, despite In the early 1970s Lacan's protestations incorporates this symbol of anti-transcendentalism, the phallus operates as a transcendental element which acts as an ideal guarantee phallic function in his formulae of meaningsexuation.
How can there be such a thing as a 'privileged signifier'Using predicate logic to articulate the problems of sexual difference, asks Derrida, given that every signifier is defined only by its differences from other signifiers? Lacan devises two formulae for the masculine position and two formulae for the feminine position.
The phallusAll four formulae revolve around the phallic function, in other words, reintroduces which is here equivalent with the metaphysics function of presence which Derrida denominates as logocentrism, and thus Derrida castration.
You're An Abominable Erection! You Demand To Be Raised To The Level Of Signifier, But You Need To Be Veiled, To Hide What You Haven't Got! Wouldn't You Like It Both Ways! But By Making The Woman Rigid, You Make Her Frigid! Humph! You're Only So Much Meat!
==See Also==
* [[Castration complex]]
* [[Eros]]
* [[Female sexuality]]
* [[Feminism]]
* [[Identification]]
* [[Gaze]]
* [[Name of the Father]]
* [[Optical model]]
* [[Perversion]]
* [[Psychosis]]
* [[Sexual differences]]
* [[Sexuation]]
* [[Symbolic]]
* [[Symptom]]/[[sinthome]]
==References==
<references/>
# Freud, Sigmund. (1916-1917a [1915-1917]). Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. SE, 15-16.
# ——. (1918b [1914]). From the history of an infantile neurosis. SE, 17: 1-122.
# ——. (1924d). The dissolution of the Oedipus complex. SE, 19: 171-179.
# Lacan, Jacques. (1998). On feminine sexuality: The limits of love and knowledge (Bruce Fink, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1972-1973.)
# ——. (2002). The signification of the phallus. In his Écrits: A selection (Bruce Fink, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1958.)
[[Category:New]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
==See Also==
# Lacan, Jacques. (1998). On feminine sexuality: The limits of love and knowledge (Bruce Fink, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1972-1973.)
# ——. (2002). The signification of the phallus. In his Écrits: A selection (Bruce Fink, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1958.)
{{Encore}}
: [[Phallic function]], 39, 71, 76, 79
:: as [[time|contingent]], 59, 94
:: [[negation]] and, 72
:: [[woman]] and, 17,73-74
:: ''See also'' [[Phallus]]; [[Phallic jouissance]]
: [[Phallic jouissance]], 64
: [[Phallic|Phallus]], 7-8, 9, 28-29, 81, 94
:: and [[man]], 7, 71, 76
:: [[woman]] and, 7, 73-74
:: ''See also'' [[Phallic function]]; [[Phallic jouissance]]
[[Category:New]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
==Trash==
[[Freud]] does use the adjective "[[phallic]]" more frequently, such as in the expression the "[[phallic phase]]", but again this implies no rigorous distinction between the terms "[[phallus]]" and "[[phallus|penis]]", since the [[phallic phase]] denotes a stage in [[development]] in which the [[child]] ([[boy]] or [[girl]]) knows only one [[biology|genital organ]] - the [[phallus|penis]].
<!-- [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]] abounds in references to the [[phallus|penis]]. However, the term "[[phallus]]" rarely appears in [[Freud]]'s [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]], and when it does it is used as a synonym of "[[phallus|penis]]". The [[phallus]] within [[Freud]]'s [[Sigmund Freud:Bibliography|work]] always maintained its reference to the [[male]] [[sexual relationship|sexual]] [[body|organ]]. -->
Freud's famous "symbolic equation" of breast, feces, penis, and baby (1916-1917a [1915-1917], 1918b, 1924d) already implied this distinction between the real penis and its phallic representations.
