Mathematics

Two Approaches - Linguistic and Mathematical

In his attempt to theorize the category of the symbolic, Lacan adopts two basis approaches.

1. The first approach is to describe it in terms borrowed from linguistics], using a [[Saussurean-inspired model of language as a system of signifiers.

1. The second approach is to describe it in terms borrowed from mathematics.

The two approaches are complementary, since both are attempts to describe formal systems with precise rules, and both demonstrate the power of the signifier.

Mathematical Approach

Although there is a general shift in Lacan's work from the linguistic approach which predominates in the 1950s to a mathematical approach which predominates in the 1970s, there are traces of the mathematical approach as early as the 1940s.

The branches of mathematics which Lacan uses most are algebra and topology, although there are also incursions into set theory and number theory.