Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lacan - Ecrits (Selections)

Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. New York: Norton, 1977.

"Beyond the Reality Principle"
Helpful summary
Lacan defends psychoanalysis against other psychology rooted in natural science. The analyst, in not offering a character of his own, allows the subject's sentences (even if they have a quality of meaninglessness, by scientific terms) to serve as credible data. The problem with using science for psychology is that the mental life doesn't meet the scientific ideals: communicable with language, repeatable under testing, and coherent.

"The Mirror Stage"
A decisive turning point in the life of the child as it gains a subjective perspective on itself. The mirror also provides imaginary wholeness to the fragmented real. The Ego forms as a result of identifying the self as the image in the mirror. There is also a symbolic dimension in the relation to the image of the adult in the mirror, as the Other.


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