Return to the Meaning of Freud Jacques Lacan Ron O’Dell

Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) Born in Paris on April 13 1901. Raised in a solid Catholic family. Studied with famous psychiatrist Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault.

Psychosexual Development 0-6 months of age No awareness of self. Everything is taken in as pleasure with no boundaries. This is the time when we are closest to a pure materiality of existence, a state which Lacan calls “the Real”.

Psychosexual Development 0-6 months of age It is when you realize that your mother pays attention to certain zones in your body (mouth, anus, genitalia) that you begin to territorialize, and take your first steps away from the real.

Psychosexual Development 6-18 months of age Known as the “mirror stage” or the “Ideal-I”. The child identifies it’s image. The image precedes the entrance to language, where the child places itself in a social order and begins to understand that it must communicate with others.

Psychosexual Development 6-18 months of age The act of recognizing yourself as “I” is the beginning of self alienation. This often creates a mixed feelings towards the image, usually between hatred and love. The “Ideal-I” is important because it gives a more simplified form to the child, unlike the boundless chaos of the infant.

Psychosexual Development 18 months to 4 years of age Language continues to distance you from “the Real” with words like “father” or “mother”. You become part of a “symbolic order”, reduced into the empty signifier “I” and the language and culture that was pre-determined for you.

The Structure of the Psyche The Real A state of nothing but need. Impossible to be in, the closest we ever come is when we are infants. Lost through the entrance of language. Impossible to describe with language due to the fact language is the reason it can’t exist.

The Structure of the Psyche The Imaginary Order The idea that needs can be fulfilled, while demands are unsatisfiable. The “mirror stage” separates the child from the world, and creates a demand to obtain. This loss can create a false image of oneself (role model, idol)

The Structure of the Psyche The Symbolic Order A child’s entrance into language and acceptance of the rules of society creates an ability to interact and deal with others.

Desire We are not in control of our desires because desires are separated from our bodies actual needs. Sex is a narcissistic act of desire that is controlled by fantasy. Love is the love for ones own ego made real on an imaginary level.

The Gaze The sense that the object we look at looks back at us with its own will. This felling of being gazed upon acts in the same way as castration anxiety.

Sources Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Lacan: On the Gaze." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Date of last update, which you can find on the home page. Purdue U. Date you accessed the site. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/psychoanalysis/lacangaze.html>. Sharpe, Matthew. "Lacan, Jacques." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosopy . Web. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/lacweb/>.