An Introduction to the Ideas of Jacques Lacan Introduction The French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) started his exploration of the human mind ecause durin! his "or# he disco$ered that there "ere certain cases that could not e explained somatically% &n order to understand psychiatrist patients' it "as not enou!h to understand the human ody' ut also the condition in !eneral% s that other doctor' Freud' had encountered the same prolems' Lacan decided to reread Freud attenti$ely% specially the later studies cau!ht his attention% &n these studies the analyst*s focus shifted from a search of *a real truth* to conceptions of a complex and multilayered idea of truth' in "hich the lin!uistic representation pre$ailed o$er a reality eyond lan!ua!e that is !one fore$er' lost to oth spea#er and listener% +radually' Lacan then de$eloped his notions of the ,ymolic order' the &ma!inary rder' and the .eal% /e called this enterprise a *.etour Freud*% This differs from the manifold interpretations of Freud some later psychoanalysts' such as the e!opsycholo!ists' ha$e !i$en% Lacan is also indeted to structuralism' ut he adds some stri#in! chan!es to the theory% e can say that he loo#ed at Freud throu!h structuralist !lasses' "hich resulted in a unique theory' "ith as uildin! stones the three rders mentioned ao$e% The central idea is that man is a cultural ein!' and that this culture is in essence symolic% The co- ordinates if man*s life are symols' are lin!ual' not the thin!s lan!ua!e refers to% Some notes on Structuralism & "ill no" explain the asic ideas and presuppositions of structuralism insofar as they are rele$ant to understand Lacan% From the nineteenth century on"ards' lin!uistics ecame increasin!ly important% ith 2e ,aussure and his structuralism a "hole ne" paradi!m in the science of lan!ua!e had een orn% 3ut the notion of structure ecame' under the influence of lin!uistics' also increasin!ly important in other ranches' li#e anthropolo!y% Lacan is influenced y this as "ell' ut "hether he can e called a true structuralist or not "ill e discussed later% To ein! "ith' some of the theory*s asic notions ha$e to e explained% 2e ,aussure has made a asic difference et"een langue' "hich is the system of lan!ua!e' and parole' "hich is the use of lan!ua!e y a particular person% nly langue is the o4ect study of lin!uistics ' and is primary to parole% hen "e consider the nature of the si!n' it has t"o elements5 the si!nifier' the material form' the sound' and the si!nified' the conceptual meanin! (not the meanin! in reality' ut in the dictionary)% The relation et"een these t"o is aritrary% The sound is defined throu!h the difference "ith other sounds and the meanin! throu!h the difference "ith other meanin!s% The sound and the meanin! are closely lin#ed' so that the content of the meanin! is defined throu!h the relation of the sound to other sounds% ,o there is an external difference (sound $s% sound' meanin! $s% meanin!) and an internal difference (sound $s% meanin!)% This is called differential definition% Lan!ua!e also has t"o axes' "hich ha$e to do "ith relations% The relation of conti!uity is called syntagmaticand of similarity is calledparadigmatic % The 167
