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| [[German]]: ''[[Imaginäre]]''|{{Bottom}}

The =====Jacques Lacan=====[[imaginaryLacan]] is one 's use of the term "[[order|three orders]] that [[structure]] [[human]] [[existence]], the others being the [[symbolic]] and the [[realimaginary]]" as a substantive dates back to 1936.<ref>{{Ec}} p.81</ref>

=====Ego Formation=====The basis of the [[imaginary|imaginary order]] continues to be the formation of the [[ego]] in the [[mirror stage]].  =====Identification=====Since the [[ego]] is formed by [[identifying]] with the [[counterpart]] or [[specular image]], [[identification]] is an important aspect of the [[imaginary|imaginary order]].  The [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]] form the prototypical [[dual relation]]ship, and are interchangeable.  =====Alienation=====This relation­ship whereby the [[ego]] is constituted by [[identification]] with the [[other|little other]] means that the [[ego]], and the [[imaginary|imaginary order]] itself, are both sites of a radical [[alienation]];  <blockquote>"Alienation is constitutive of the imaginary order."<ref>{{S3}} p. 146</ref></blockquote>  =====Narcissism=====The [[dual relation]]ship between the [[ego]] and the [[counterpart]] is fundamentally [[narcissistic]], and [[narcissism]] is another characteristic of the [[imaginary|imaginary order]].  [[Narcissism]] is always accompanied by a certain [[aggressivity]].  =====Deception=====The [[imaginary]] is the realm of image and imagination, [[truth|deception]] and [[lure]].  The principal illusions of the [[imaginary]] are those of [[gestalt|wholeness]], [[dialectic|synthesis]], [[autonomous ego|autonomy]], [[dual relation|duality]] and, above all, [[counterpart|similarity]].  =====Structure=====The [[imaginary]] is thus the [[order]] of surface appearances which are deceptive, observable phenomena which hide underlying [[structure]]; the [[affect]]s are such phenomena.  However, the opposition between the [[imaginary]] and the [[symbolic]] does not mean that the [[imaginary]] is lacking in [[structure]].  On the contrary, the [[imaginary]] is always already [[structure]]d by the [[symbolic order]].  For example in his discussion of the [[mirror stage]] in 1949, [[Lacan]] speaks of the relations in [[imaginary]] space, which imply a [[symbolic]] [[structure|structuring]] of that space.<ref>{{E}} p. 1</ref>  The expression "[[imaginary|imaginary matrix]]" also implies an [[imaginary]] which is [[structure|structured­]] by the [[symbolic]],<ref>{{Ec}} p. 221</ref> and in 1964 [[Lacan]] discusses how the visual field is [[structure|structured­]] by [[symbolic]] [[law]]s.<ref>{{S11}} p. 91-2</ref> =====Linguistic Dimension=====The [[imaginary]] also involves a [[linguistics|linguistic dimension]].  Whereas the [[signifier]] is foundation of the [[symbolic order]], the [[signified]] and [[signification]] are part of [[imaginary|imaginary order]].  Thus [[language]] has both [[symbolic]] and [[imaginary]] aspects; in its [[imaginary]] aspect, [[language]] is the "wall of language" which inverts and distorts the [[discourse]] of the [[Other]]. =====Captation===== The [[imaginary]] exerts a [[captation|captivating power]] over the [[subject]], founded in the almost hypnotic effect of the [[specular image]].  The [[imaginary]] is thus rooted in [[subject]]'s relationship to his own body (or rather to the [[image]] of his body).  This [[captation|captivating/capturing power]] is both [[seductive]] (the [[imaginary]] is manifest­ed above all on the sexual plane, in such forms as sexual display and courtship rituals)<ref>{{L}} "[[Situation de la psychanalyse et formation du psychanalyste en 1956]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966 [1956b]: 272</ref> and disabling: it imprisons the [[subject]] in series of static fixations.  =====Nature===== The [[imaginary]] is the dimension of the [[human]] [[subject]] which is most closely linked to ethology and animal psychology.<ref>{{S3}} p. 253</ref> All attempts to explain [[human]] [[subjectivity]] in terms of animal psychology are thus limited to the [[imaginary]].  Although the [[imaginary]] represents the closest point of contact between [[human]] [[subjectivity]] and animal ethology,<ref>{{S2}} p. 166</ref> it is not simply identical; the [[imaginary|imaginary order]] in [[human]] [[being]]s is [[structure]]d by the [[symbolic]], and this means that "in man, the imaginary relation has deviated [from the realm of nature]."<ref>{{S2}} p. 210</ref> =====Imagination===== [[Lacan]] has a Cartesian mistrust of the [[imaginary|imagination]] as a cognitive tool.  He insists, like Descartes, on the supremacy of pure intellection, without depen­dence on images, as the only way of arriving at certain [[knowledge]].  It is this that lies behind Lacan's use of [[topology|topological figures]], which cannot be represented in the [[imaginary|imagination]], to explore the [[structure]] of the [[unconscious]].  This mistrust of the [[imaginary|imagination]] and the senses puts [[Lacan]] firmly the side of [[science|rationalism]] rather than [[science|empiricism]].  =====Imaginary Reductionism=====[[Lacan]] accused the major [[school|psychoanalytic schools]] of his day of reducing [[psychoanalysis]] to the [[imaginary|imaginary order]]: these psychoanalysts made [[identification]] with the [[analyst]] into the goal of [[treatment|analysis]], and reduced [[treatment|analysis]] to a [[dual relation]]ship.<ref>{{E}} p. 246-7</ref> [[Lacan]] sees this as a complete betrayal of [[psychoanalysis]], a deviation which can only eveer succeed in increasing the [[alienation]] of the [[subject]]. =====Symbolic in Analysis=====Against such [[imaginary]] reductionism, [[Lacan]] argues that the essence of [[psychoanalysis]] consists in its use of the [[symbolic]]. This use of the [[symbolic]] is the only way to dislodge the disabling fixations of the [[imaginary]]. Thus the only way for the [[analyst]] to gain any purchase on the [[imaginary]] is by transforming the [[images]] into [[word]]s, just as [[Freud]] treats the [[dream]] as a rebus: <blockquote>"The imaginary is decipherable only if it is rendered into [[symbol]]s."<ref>{{L}} "[[Situation de la psychanalyse et formation du psychanalyste en 1956]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. Paris: Seuil, 1966 [1956b]: 269</ref></blockquote> This use of the [[symbolic]] is the only way for the [[treatment|analytic process]] "to cross the plane of identification."<ref>{{S11}} p. 273</ref> =====See Also=====

=====References=====