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{| align==Definition==The "[[Frenchright]] term ''" style="line-height:2.0em;text-align:right;margin-left: 10px;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #aaa" | [[point de capitonFrench]]'' is variously translated in [[English]] editions of [[Lacan]]'s work as ': [[quilting point]]' or '[[anchoring |point]]'. de capiton{{Bottom}}

The [[French]] term ''[[point de capiton]]'' is variously translated in [[English]] editions of [[Lacan]]'s [[work]] as "[[quilting point]]" or "[[anchoring point]]." To avoid the confusion resulting from this variety of [[translation]], the term has here been [[left ]] in the original [[French]].

Literally =====Upholstery Button=====It literally designates an "[[upholstery button]], the analogy [[being]] that just as [[upholstery button]]s are places where " it the mattress-maker's needle has also been translated as worked hard to prevent a shapeless mass of stuffing from moving too freely [[about]].<ref>Bowie, Malcolm. (1991) ''Lacan'', [[London]]: Fontana. p.74</ref>,"so the ''[[anchoring pointpoints de capiton]]'' are points at which the "signified and signifier are knotted together."<ref>{{S3}} p. 268</ref>

It literally designates an =====Slippage=====[[upholstery buttonLacan]], introduces the term in his 1955-6 [[seminar]] on [[the psychoses]] to account for the analogy being fact that just as despite the continual [[upholstery buttonslip]]s page of the [[signified]] under the [[signifier]], there are places nevertheless in the normal ([[neurotic]]) [[subject]] certain fundamental "attachment points" between the [[signified]] and the [[signifier]] where this [[slip]]page is temporarily halted. A certain minimum [[number]] of these points are "necessary for a person to be called normal," and "when they are not established, or when they give way'"the mattressresult is [[psychosis]].<ref>{{S3}} pp. 268-maker's needle has worked hard 9</ref> This helps to prevent explain how it is that in the [[psychotic]] [[experience]], "the signifier and the signified [[present]] themselves in a shapeless mass of stuffing from moving too freely about,completely [[divided]] [[form]]."<ref>Bowie, 1991: 74{{S3}} p. 268</ref> .

=====Illusion of a Fixed Meaning=====The ''[[upholstery buttonpoint de capiton]] '' is an thus the point in the [[anchoring pointsignifying chain]] on a quilt at which "prevents the signifier stops the otherwise endless movement of the signification" and produces the necessary [[illusion]] of a shapeless mass of stuffing from moving too freely aboutfixed [[meaning]].<ref>Bowie, Malcolm. 1991. {{E}} p.74303</ref>

In =====Diachronic and Synchronic Dimension=====Since the same way, the ''[[point de capitonsignifying chain]]'' is has both a point ([[signifierdiachronic]]) that fixes the and a [[meaningsynchronic]] inside an [[ideologicaldimension]] field, stops so also does the ''[[meaningpoint de capiton]] from sliding about.'':

In =====Diachronic Dimension=====[[Image:GRAPHOFDESIRE-ONE.jpg|thumb|right|[[graph of desire|The elementary cell]]]]The [[diachronic]] dimension of the ''[[point de capiton]]'' lies in the fact that [[communication]] is always a [[retroactive]] effect of [[punctuation]]. It is only when the [[sentence]] is completed that the [[sense]] of the first [[words]] is determined [[retroactively]]. This function is illustrated in the [[graph of desire|elementary cell]] of the same way[[graph of desire]], in which the ''[[point de capiton]]'' is a the leftmost point at which "signified of intersection between the vector '''S - S'''' and signifier are knotted together."<ref>{{S3}} pthe vector.268</ref>

=====Synchronic Dimension=====The [[signifierssynchronic]] or aspect is [[signifying chainmetaphor]] are unstable and liable to , by which the [[slippagesignifier]]s of crosses the [[meaningbar]] into the [[signified]].

[[Lacan]] introduces the term in his 1955-6 [[seminar]] on [[the psychoses]] to account for the fact that despite the continual [[slip]]page of the [[signified]] under the [[signifier]], thereare nevertheless in the normal ([[neurotic]]) [[subject]] certain fundamental "attachment points" between the [[signified]] and the [[signifier]] where this [[slip]]page is temporarily halted.  A certain minimum number of these points are "necessary for a person to be called normal," and "when they are not established, or when they give way'" the result is [[psychosis]].<ref>{{S3}} p.268-9</ref> This helps to explain how it is that in the [[psychotic]] experience, "the signifier and the signified present themselves in a completely divided form."<ref>{{S3}} p.268</ref>. The ''[[point de capiton]]'' is thus the point in the [[signifying chain]] at which "the signifier stops the otherwise endless movement of the signification" and produces the necessary [[illusion]] of a fixed [[meaning]].<ref>{{E}} p.303</refblockquote> For [[Lacan]] the link between [[signifier]] and signified is so precarious that whereas [[Saussure]] saw the whole [[system]] as more or less grounded, [[Lacan]] sees only occasional points of [[stability]].  These points of [[stability]] are referred to as [[points de capiton]], or "quilting points," points "by which the signifier stops the otherwise endless movement to produce "the necessary illusion of a fixed meaning." ==Diachrony and Synchrony==Since the [[signifying chain]] has both a [[diachronic]] and a [[synchronic]] dimension, so also does the ''[[point de capiton]]'': ===Diachrony===[[Image:PointdeCapiton.gif|right]]1. The [[diachronic]] dimension of the ''[[point de capiton]]'' lies in the fact that [[communication]] is always a [[retroactive]] effect of [[punctuation]].  It is only when the sentence is completed that the sense of the first words is determined [[retroactively]].  This function is illustrated in the elementary cell of the [[graph of desire]], in which the ''[[point de capiton]]'' is the leftmost point of intersection between the vector S-S' and the vector A-S. ===Synchrony===2. The [[synchronic]] aspect is [[metaphor]], by which the [[signifier]] crosses the [[bar]] into the [[signified]].  "The [[synchronic]] [[structure]] (of the ''[[point de capiton]]'') is more hidden, and it is this [[structure]] that takes us to the source. It is [[metaphor]]."<ref>{{E}} p.303</ref>. ==Ideology==The [[signifiers]] or [[signifying chain]] are unstable and liable to [[slippage]]s of [[meaning]]. How does an [[ideology]] maintain its consistency?What keeps of [[ideological]] field of [[meaning]] consistent?Any given [[ideological]] field is "quilted" by the ''[[point de capiton]]''A point de capiton unifies an ideological field and provides it with an identity.  What is at issue in the conflict of [[ideologies]] is precisely the ''[[point de capiton]]''. [[Signifiers]] such as "[[freedom]]", "[[democracy]]", "[[human rights]]," etc. are open-ended.Their [[meanings]] can slide about depending on the context of their use. For example, a [[right-wing]] [[interpretation]] of the word "[[freedom]]" might use it to designate the [[freedom]] to speculate on the [[market]], whereas a [[left-wing]] [[interpretation]] of it might use it designate [[freedom]] from the inequalities of the [[market]].  The word "[[freedom]]" therefore does not mean the same thing in all possible worlds: what pins its [[meaning]] down is the ''[[point de capiton]]''.  ==Imaginary==Perhaps the most important feature of the ''[[point de capiton]]'' is that the [[stability]] it provides is, however necessary, an [[illusion]]. The ''[[point de capiton]]'' is an instance of [[imaginary]] [[identification]] disrupting the integrity and [[rationality]] of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] itself.  Though these disruptions are strictly speaking inimical to the [[symbolic]] [[order]], they are also vital to its [[existence]] as a field for producing [[meaning]], for such disruptions serve to anchor the [[signifying chain]] and keep it from devolving into a [[psychotic]] process of pure [[linguistic]] [[self-referentiality]] without even the [[illusion]] of [[external]] reference.</blockquote>

{{See}}* [[Signifyin chainGraph of desire]]

* [[Signifier]]/[[SignifiedPunctuation]]||* [[MeaningSignification]]* [[SubjectSignified]]||* [[InterpretationSignifier]]* [[Synchronic]]/[[DiachronicSignifying chain]]* [[IdeologySlip]]* [[Illusion]]{{Also}}