Difference between revisions of "Memory"

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MEMORIES
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{{Top}}mémoire{{Bottom}}
For psychoanalysis, memories are conscious representations of the past suspected of being, at least in part, illusory. The fact is that conscious memories or recollections may conceal unconscious ones, even if the ego accepts them at face value and finds comfort therein. In his early work Freud spoke of "unconscious memories," but he later replaced this term with "memory traces.
 
  
In Freud's initial work on the theory of neuroses (1894-96), "memories were pathogenic reminiscences of traumatic seduction; subsequently the memories of...
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==Jacques Lacan==
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The term "[[memory]]" is used in two different ways in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]].
  
MEMORY
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==Symbolic Order==
If one views memory as the ability to retain and recall past states of consciousness, then psychoanalysis has played a considerable role in its delineation. But in terms of memory theory considered more broadly, its significance is much more modest. Freud approached memory from three perspectives. In terms of neurology, his contributions were original but limited. From the standpoint of psychology, he added to the pre-existing framework. Finally, in creating the psychoanalytic perspective, Freud essentially reworked views that had been...
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In the 1950s, [[memory]] is [[understood]] as a phenomenon of the [[symbolic order]], related to the [[signifying chain]].
  
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==Recollection==
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It is related to the [[concepts]] of [[remembering]] and [[recollection]], and opposed to [[imaginary]] [[reminiscence]].
  
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==Biology and Psychology==
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[[Lacan]] makes it clear that his [[concept]] of [[memory]] is not a [[biological]] or [[psychology|psychological]] one.
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<blockquote>"The memory which interests psychoanalysis is quite distinct from what psychologists [[speak]] of when they display its [[mechanism]] to us in an animate [[being]] in an experiment."<ref>{{S3}} p.152</ref></blockquote>
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==Symbolic History of the Subject==
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For [[psychoanalysis]], [[memory]] is the [[symbolic]] [[history]] of the [[subject]], a [[chain]] of [[signifier]]s linked up together, a "signifying articulation."<ref>{{S7}} p.223</ref>
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Something is [[memory|memorable]] and [[memory|memorized]] only when it is "registered in the signifying chain."<ref>{{S7}} p. 212</ref>
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In this [[sense]], the [[unconscious]] is a sort of [[memory]],<ref>{{S3}} p. 155</ref> since "what we teach the subject to recognize as his unconscious is his history."<ref>{{E}} p. 52</ref>
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==Psychoanalysis==
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The phenomena associated with [[memory]] which most interest the [[analyst]] are those moments when something goes wrong with [[memory]], when the [[subject]] cannot [[recollection|recall]] a part of his [[history]].
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It is the fact that he can forget, that a [[signifier]] can be elided from the [[signifying chain]], that makes the [[psychoanalytic]] [[subject]] distinctive.<ref>{{S7}} p.224</ref>
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==Biology and Psychology==
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In the 1960s [[Lacan]] reserves the term "[[memory]]" for the [[biological]] or [[physiological]] concept of [[memory]] as an [[organic]] property.<ref>{{Ec}} p. 42</ref>
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It thus no longer designates the [[symbolic]] [[history]] of the [[subject]] which is the concern of [[psychoanalysis]], but something which lies [[outside]] [[psychoanalysis]] altogether.
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==See Also==
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{{See}}
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* [[Biology]]
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* [[Recollection]]
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||
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* [[Signifier]]
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* [[Signifying chain]]
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* [[Subject]]
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* [[Symbolic]]
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{{Also}}
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==References==
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<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
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<references/>
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</div>
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[[Category:Dictionary]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Concepts]]
 
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{{OK}}
[[Category:Sigmund Freud]]
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Latest revision as of 19:23, 20 May 2019

French: mémoire

Jacques Lacan

The term "memory" is used in two different ways in Lacan's work.

Symbolic Order

In the 1950s, memory is understood as a phenomenon of the symbolic order, related to the signifying chain.

Recollection

It is related to the concepts of remembering and recollection, and opposed to imaginary reminiscence.

Biology and Psychology

Lacan makes it clear that his concept of memory is not a biological or psychological one.

"The memory which interests psychoanalysis is quite distinct from what psychologists speak of when they display its mechanism to us in an animate being in an experiment."[1]

Symbolic History of the Subject

For psychoanalysis, memory is the symbolic history of the subject, a chain of signifiers linked up together, a "signifying articulation."[2]

Something is memorable and memorized only when it is "registered in the signifying chain."[3]

In this sense, the unconscious is a sort of memory,[4] since "what we teach the subject to recognize as his unconscious is his history."[5]

Psychoanalysis

The phenomena associated with memory which most interest the analyst are those moments when something goes wrong with memory, when the subject cannot recall a part of his history.

It is the fact that he can forget, that a signifier can be elided from the signifying chain, that makes the psychoanalytic subject distinctive.[6]

Biology and Psychology

In the 1960s Lacan reserves the term "memory" for the biological or physiological concept of memory as an organic property.[7]

It thus no longer designates the symbolic history of the subject which is the concern of psychoanalysis, but something which lies outside psychoanalysis altogether.

See Also

References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p.152
  2. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book VII. The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-60. Trans. Dennis Porter. London: Routledge, 1992. p.223
  3. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book VII. The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-60. Trans. Dennis Porter. London: Routledge, 1992. p. 212
  4. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p. 155
  5. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 52
  6. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book VII. The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-60. Trans. Dennis Porter. London: Routledge, 1992. p.224
  7. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p. 42