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{{Top}}[[topologie]]{{Bottom}}

"[[Topology]]" is a branch of [[mathematics]] which deals with the properties of [[figures ]] in [[topology|space]] where are preserved under all continuous deformations. These properties are those of continuity, contiguity and delimitation.

The [[notion ]] of [[topology|space]] in [[topology]] is one of [[topology|topological space]], which is not limited to Euclidean (two- and [[three]]-dimensional [[space]]), nor even to spaces which can be said to have a [[dimension ]] at all. [[topology|Topological space]] thus dispenses with all references to distance, size, area and angle, and is based only on a [[concept ]] of closeness or neighbourhood.

/* In what have been called his two "[[topology|topographies]]" (the first dating from 1900 and the second from 1923), [[Freud]] resorted to [[schema]]s to [[represent ]] the various parts of the [[psychic apparatus]] and their interrelations. These schemas implicitly posited an equivalence between [[psychic ]] space and Euclidean space. */

[[Freud]] used spatial metaphors to describe the psyche in ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', where he cites G. T. Fechner's [[idea ]] that the [[scene ]] of [[action ]] of [[dreams ]] is different from that of waking ideational [[life ]] and proposes the concept of '[[psychical ]] locality'. [[Freud]] is careful to explain that this concept is a purely topographical one, and must not be confused with [[physical ]] locality in any [[anatomical ]] fashion.<ref>Freud, 1900a: SE V, 536</ref> His "[[topology|first topography]]" [[divided ]] the [[psyche]] into three systems: the [[conscious]] (Cs), the [[preconscious]] ([[Pcs]]) and the [[unconscious]] ([[Ucs]]). The "[[topology|second topography]]" divided the [[psyche]] into the three [[agencies ]] of the [[ego]], the [[superego]] and the [[id]].

[[Lacan]] criticizes these models for not [[being ]] [[topological]] enough. He argues that the diagram with which [[Freud]] had illustrated his second topology in ''[[The Ego and the Id]]'' (1923b) led the majority of [[Freud]]'s readers to forget the [[analysis ]] on which it was based because of the intuitive [[power ]] of the [[image]].<ref>{{E}} p. 214</ref> [[Lacan]]'s interest in [[topology]] arises, then, because he sees it as providing a non-intuitive, purely [[intellectual ]] means of expressing the concept of [[structure]] that is so important to his focus on the [[symbolic order]]. It is thus the task of [[Lacan]]'s topological models "to forbid [[imaginary ]] [[capture]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 333</ref> Unlike intuitive [[images]], in which "[[perception ]] eclipses structure", in [[Lacan]]'s [[topology]] "there is no occultation of the [[symbolic]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 333</ref>

[[Lacan]] argues that [[topology]] is not simply a [[metaphor]]ical way of expressing the concept of [[structure]]; it is [[structure]] itself.<ref>{{L}} "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|L'Étourdit]]," ''[[Scilicet]]'', no. 4, 1973: pp. 5-52</ref> He emphasizes that [[topology]] privileges the function of the cut (''[[coupure]]''), since the cut is what distinguishes a discontinuous transformation from a continuous one. Both kinds of transformation play a [[role ]] in [[psychoanalytic treatment]]. As an example of a continuous transformation, [[Lacan]] refers to the [[moebius strip]]; just as one passes from one side to the [[other ]] by following the [[strip ]] round continuously, so the [[subject]] can [[traverse]] the [[fantasy]] without making a [[mythical ]] leap from [[inside ]] to [[outside]]. As an example of a discontinous transformation, [[Lacan]] also refers to the [[moebius strip]], which when cut down the middle is transformed into a single loop with very different topological properties; it now has two sides instead of one. Just as the cut operates a discontinuous transformation in the [[moebius strip]], so an effective [[interpretation]] proferred by the [[analyst]] modifies the [[structure]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]] in a radical way.

While [[schema L]] and the other [[schemata ]] which are produced in the 1950s can be seen as [[Lacan]]'s first incursion into [[topology]], topological forms only come into prominence when, in the 1960s, he turns his attention to the figures of the [[torus]], the [[moebius strip]], [[Klein]]'s bottle, and the [[cross-cap]].<ref>{{L}} ''[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Le Séminaire. Livre IX. L'identification, 1961-62]]'', unpublished.</ref> Later on, in the 1970s, [[Lacan]] turns his attention to the more [[complex ]] area of [[knot ]] [[theory]], especially the [[Borromean knot]].