The symbolic
The symbolic (or also the symbolic order , the order of the symbolic ) is a term used by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and describes one of the three structural determinations of psychism . Unlike the pictorial imaginary and the mute real , the symbolic is the order of language and discourse .
language
The symbolic consists of signifiers that are in a well-ordered relationship to signifieds ( see also: Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of language). The symbolic is the order of language and discourse , but also the order of power and the “law of the father” ( name-of-the-father ), which in turn is a linguistic order. In this respect, the symbolic is related to the concept of the great other .
The big other
→ Main article: The great other
The first embodiment of the symbolic is the mother; it is a “great other will” which speaks and which introduces the child to the order of language and the social . This applies even more to the father, who in the Oedipus conflict takes on the prohibitive role of the law ( incest taboo , threat of castration ), pushes the child out of Oedipal desires and orientates them towards the social world outside the family.
In society the law of the symbolic applies, i. H. the law of language , social norms and economic exchange ( see also: reciprocity ). In this sense, the symbolic is to be equated with the order of language, discourse , state rule and economy as well as the “law of the father” (“ name of the father ”). They also form a symbolic order of domination that subdues the subject (subjectum = subject) and structures it. "What every subject first encounters in his or her life are signifiers." (Peter Widmer)
The lack in the great other
Like everything in the Lacanian universe, the symbolic is also deficient, incomplete: “The sense gives the impression that the signifier and the signified belong together. But there remains a residue that eludes sense. This lack of complete association allows the signified to slide among the signified, which leads to the conclusion that the meaning is never exhausted, never perfect. That is why a speech, a script, is never closed forever. This shows a fundamental defect. "(Peter Widmer)
The symbolic order cannot symbolize the real as such, although the real is the place to which the signifiers refer. The symbolic order, the great other , is therefore always incomplete, full of holes, and therefore barred / crossed out. Lacan's mathem for this incompleteness is S ( A ) .
The dominance of the symbolic
The unconscious is also subject to the structure of the symbolic: "The unconscious is structured like a language." (Lacan) The symbolic is therefore the dominant of the three structural determinations of the psychic ( the imaginary is always already symbolically transformed), and also that area that plays the central role in psychoanalytic treatment, which is essentially a form of healing through language (cf. Lacan).
See also
literature
- Jacques Lacan: Seminar XI. The four basic concepts of psychoanalysis (1964), Berlin / Weinheim: Quadriga 1996
- Dylan Evans: Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis , Vienna: Turia + Kant 2002
- Peter Widmer, Subversion of Desire. Jacques Lacan or The Second Revolution of Psychoanalysis , Frankfurt a. M .: Fischer 1990 (New edition: Subversion of Desire. An introduction to Jacques Lacan's work , Vienna: Turia + Kant 1997, ISBN 3851321502 )