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The "[[real]]" stands for what is neither [[symbolic]] nor [[imaginary]].
  
 
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It forms part of a [[subjects]] [[reality]], however it is never truly known, it is mediated by the two [[orders]] of [[the Imaginary]] and [[the Symbolic]], thus while it is [[present]], the [[subject]] treats it as inherently Othered and [[alien]]. It is most notably discussed in [[Freudian]] [[theory]] as 'Das [[Ding]]'. This is furthered in [[Lacan]] who often cites these [[Uncanny]] [[objects]] as reminders of symbolic [[lack]] in the subjects [[identity]] [[formation]].
==Jacques Lacan==
 
 
 
'''The Real''' is a term used by the psychoanalyst [[Jacques Lacan]] in his theory of psychic structures.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lacan's use of the term '[[Real]]' (rÈel) as a substantive dates back to an early paper, published in 1936.
 
 
 
However, while this may be Lacan's starting point, the term undergoes many shifts in meaning and usage throughout his work.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==Three Orders==
 
 
 
In [[Lacanian psychoanalysis]], one of the three orders that structure human existence, the others being the [[imaginary]] and the [[symbolic]].
 
 
 
The real, a category established by Jacques Lacan, can only be understood in connection with the categories of the symbolic and the imaginary.
 
 
 
It is not until 1953 that Lacan elevates the [[Real]] to the status of a fundamental category of psychoanalytic theory; the [[Real]] is henceforth one of the three [[orders]] according to which all psychoanalytic phenomena may be described, the other two being the [[Symbolic]] order and and the [[Imaginary]] order.
 
 
 
The [[Real]] is thus no longer simply opposed to the [[Imaginary]], but is also located beyond the [[Symbolic]].
 
 
 
The Real works in tension with the imaginary order and the symbolic order.
 
 
 
In 1953, in a lecture called "Le symbolique, l'imaginaire et le réel" (The symbolic, the imaginary, and the real; 1982), Lacan introduced the real as connected with the imaginary and the symbolic.
 
 
 
==Real and Freud==
 
 
 
The [[real]] is located in [[dream]]s as its [[navel]].
 
 
 
The [[real]] is limit of the [[dream]], the point at which the unknown emerges.
 
 
 
The [[dream]]'s [[navel]] is the point at which the [[real]] is linked with the [[symbolic]].<ref>Lacan, 1975</ref>
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and Reality==
 
 
 
The [[real]] is not the [[external]] [[reality]].
 
 
 
The [[real]] is the irreducible [[surplus]] of [[external]] [[reality]] that resists [[language]].
 
 
 
==External / internal==
 
The term 'the [[real]]' seems to imply a simplistic notion of an objective, external reality, a material substrate which exists in itself, independently of any observer.
 
such a 'naive' view of the [[Real]] is subverted by the fact that the [[Real]] also includes such things as hallucinations and traumatic dreams.
 
 
 
The [[Real]] is thus both inside and outside.<ref>S7, 118;  see [[extimacy]]</ref> (extimitÈ).
 
 
 
This ambiguity reflects the ambiguity inherent in Freud's own use of the two German terms for reality (Wirklichkeit and Realit‰t) and the distinction Freud draws between material reality and psychical reality.<ref>Freud, 1900a: SE V, 620</ref>
 
 
 
the [[Real]] is placed firmly on the side of the unknowable and unassimilable, while 'reality' denotes subjective representations which are  a product of [[Symbolic]] and [[Imaginary]] articulations (Freud's 'psychical reality').
 
 
 
==Real and Materiality==
 
 
 
The [[real]] also has connotations of matter, implying a material substrate underlying the [[imaginary]] and the [[symbolic]].
 
 
 
The connotations of matter also link the concept of the [[Real]] to the realm of [[biology]] and to the body in its brute physicality (as opposed to the [[Imaginary]] and [[Symbolic]] functions of the body).
 
 
 
For example the [[real]] father is the biological father, and the [[real]] phallus is the physical penis as opposed to the [[symbolic]] and [[imaginary]] functions of this organ.
 
 
 
The real for example continues to erupt whenever we are made to acknowledge the materiality of our existence, an acknowledgement that is usually perceived as traumatic (since it threatens our very "reality"), although it also drives Lacan's sense of jouissance.
 
 
 
==Real and Imaginary==
 
 
 
At first the [[Real]] is simply opposed to the realm of the image, which seems to locate it in the realm of being, beyond appearances.<ref>{{Ec}} p.85</ref>
 
 
 
==Real and Pre-Oedipal==
 
 
 
The state of nature from which we have been forever severed by our entrance into language.
 
 
 
Only as neo-natal children were we close to this state of nature, a state in which there is nothing but need.
 
 
 
A baby needs and seeks to satisfy those needs with no sense for any separation between itself and the external world or the world of others.
 
 
 
For this reason, Lacan sometimes represents this state of nature as a time of fullness or completeness that is subsequently lost through the entrance into language.
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and Symbolic==
 
 
 
The [[real]] exists '[[outside]]' or 'beyond' the [[symbolic]].
 
 
 
The [[real]] is that which resists [[symbolization]] and [[signification]].
 
 
 
Defined as what escapes the symbolic, the real can be neither spoken nor written.
 
 
 
Thus it is related to the impossible, defined as "that which never ceases to write itself."
 
 
 
And because it cannot be reduced to meaning, the real does not lend itself any more readily to univocal imaginary representation than it does to symbolization.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As far as humans are concerned, however, "the real is impossible," as Lacan was fond of saying.
 
 
 
It is impossible in so far as we cannot express it in language because the very entrance into language marks our irrevocable separation from the real.
 
 
 
Still, the real continues to exert its influence throughout our adult lives since it is the rock against which all our fantasies and linguistic structures ultimately fail.
 
 
 
Thus, whatever our capacity for symbolizing and imagining, there remains an irreducible realm of the nonmeaning, and that is where the real is located (see Lacan, 1974-1975).
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and the Lack in the Symbolic==
 
 
 
The [[real]] is not [[outside]] of the [[symbolic]] but is a [[structure]] feature of it - its [[lack]].
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and the Subject==
 
 
 
"One thing that is striking is that in analysis there is an entire element of the real of the subject that escapes us. There is something that brings the limits of analysis into play, and it involves the relation of the subject to the real."<ref>1982</ref>
 
 
 
The real is defined not solely by its relation to the symbolic but also by the particular way in which each subject is caught up in it.
 
 
 
Unlike the [[Symbolic]], which is constituted in terms of oppositions such as that between presence and absence, 'there is no absence in the [[Real]].'  <ref>S2, 313</ref> 
 
 
 
Whereas the [[Symbolic]] opposition between presence and absence implies the permanent possibility that something may be missing from the [[Symbolic]] order, the [[Real]] 'is always in its place: it carries it glued to its heel, ignorant of what might exile it from there.' <ref>Ec, 25; see Sll, 49</ref>
 
 
 
Whereas the [[Symbolic]] is a set of differentiated, discrete elements called signifiers, the [[Real]] is, in itself, undifferentiated; 'the [[Real]] is absolutely without fissure.' <ref>S2, 97</ref> 
 
 
 
It is the [[Symbolic]] which introduces 'a cut in the [[Real]]' in the process of signification: 'it is the world of words that creates the world of things  - things originally confused in the hic et nunc of the all in the process of coming-into-being.' <ref>E, 65</ref>
 
 
 
In these formulations of the period 1953-5, the [[Real]] emerges as that which is outside language and inassimilable to symbolisation.
 
 
 
It is 'that which resists symbolization absolutely';<ref>Sl, 66</ref> or, again, the [[Real]] is 'the domain of whatever subsists outside symbolisation.'<ref>Ec, 388</ref>
 
 
 
This theme remains a constant throughout the rest of Lacan's work, and leads Lacan to link the [[Real]] with the concept of impossibility.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and Trauma==
 
 
 
 
 
The [[Real]] is 'the impossible'<ref>Sl l, 167</ref> because it is impossible to imagine, impossible to integrate into the [[Symbolic]] order, and impossible to attain in any way.
 
 
 
It is this character of impossibility and of resistance to symbolisation which lends the [[Real]] its essentially traumatic quality.
 
 
 
 
 
The [[real]] is encountered in the context of [[trauma]].
 
 
 
In his seminar The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis (1978), Lacan took up Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920g) and approached the real in terms of compulsion and repetition.
 
 
 
He proposed distinguishing between two different aspects of repetition: a symbolic aspect that depends on the compulsion of signifiers (automaton) and a real aspect that he called tuché, the interruption of the automaton by trauma or a bad encounter that the subject is unable to avoid.
 
 
 
Engendered by the real of trauma, repetition is perpetuated by the failure of symbolization.
 
 
 
From this point on, Lacan defined the real as "that which always returns to the same place" (Lacan, 1978, p. 49).
 
 
 
Trauma, which Freud situated within the framework of the death drive, Lacan conceptualized as the impossible-to-symbolize real.
 
 
 
Thus in his reading of the case of Little Hans <ref>Freud, 1909b</ref> in the seminar of 1956-7, Lacan distinguishes two [[Real]] elements which intrude and disrupt the child's [[Imaginary]] preoedipal harmony: <ref>S4, 308-9</ref>
 
 
 
 
 
[[Anxiety]] and trauma   
 
 
 
Throughout his work, Lacan uses the concept of the [[Real]] to elucidate a number of clinical phenomena:
 
 
 
 
 
The [[Real]] is the object of anxiety; it lacks any possible mediation, and is thus 'the essential object which isn't an object any longer, but this something faced with which all words  cease and all categories fail, the object of anxiety par excellence' (S2, 164).
 
 
 
It is the missed encounter with this [[Real]] object which presents itself in the form of trauma (Sll, 55).
 
 
 
It is the tyche which lies 'beyond the [[[symbolic]]] automaton.'<ref>S11, 53</ref> (see [[chance]]).
 
 
 
 
 
it is situated in relation to the death drive and the repetition compulsion
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and Psychosis==
 
 
 
The [[real]] is encountered in the context of [[psychosis]].
 
 
 
 
 
If, for instance, the [[name-of-the-father]] cannot be itnegrated into the [[subject]]'s [[symbolic]] world, the mechanism of [[foreclosure]] will ensure that it is expelled into the [[real]] and not repressed into the [[unconscious]], thus triggering a [[psychosis]].
 
The foreclosed [[signifier]] will then return in the [[real]] in the form of a persecutory [[image]] that cannot be [[mastery|mastered]] through verbal [[symbolization]].
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lacan approached the real through hallucination and psychosis by careful study of Freud's "Wolf man" case (1918b [1914]), Freud's commentary on Daniel Paul Schreber (1911c [1910]), and "Negation" (Freud, 1925h).
 
 
 
If the Name of the Father is foreclosed and the symbolic function of castration is refused by the subject, the signifiers of the father and of castration reappear in reality, in the form of hallucinations.
 
 
 
Hence the Wolf Man's hallucination of a severed finger and Schreber's delusions of communicating with God.
 
 
 
Thus, in developing the concept of foreclosure, Lacan was able to declare, "What does not come to light in the symbolic appears in the real" (1966, p. 388).
 
 
 
==Hallucinations==
 
When something cannot be integrated in the [[Symbolic]] order, as in [[psychosis]], it may return in the [[Real]] in the form of a hallucination.<ref>S3, 321</ref>
 
The preceding comments trace out some of the main uses to which Lacan puts the category of the [[Real]], but are far from covering all the complexities of this term.
 
 
 
 
 
==Real and Psychoanalytic Treatment==
 
The concept of the real also allowed Lacan to approach questions of anxiety and the symptom in a new way.
 
 
 
In the final years of his teaching, Lacan took up the question of the symptom and the end of the treatment (1975; 1976).
 
 
 
If the symptom is "the most real thing" that subjects possess (1976, p. 41), then how must analysis proceed to aim at the real of the symptom in order to ensure that the symptom does not proliferate in meaningful effects and even to eliminate the symptom?
 
 
 
For analysis not to be an infinite process, for it to find its own internal limit, the analyst's interpretation, which bears upon the signifier, must also reach the real of the symptom, that is, the point where the symbolically nonmeaningful latches on to the real, where the first signifiers heard by the subject have left their imprint (Lacan, 1985, p. 14).
 
 
 
According to Lacan, to reach its endpoint, an analysis must modify the relationship of the subject to the real, which is an irreducible whole in the symbolic from which the subject's fantasy and desire derive.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[[Category:Dictionary]]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BORROMEAN KNOT
 
By affirming the equivalence of the three categories R, S, and I, by representing them as three perfectly identical circles that could be distinguished only by the names they were given, and by knotting these three circles together in specific ways (such that if any one of them is cut, the other two are set free), Lacan introduced a new object in psychoanalysis, the Borromean knot.
 
 
 
This knot is both a material object that can be manipulated and a metaphor for the structure of the subject.
 
 
 
The knot, made up of three rings, is characterized by how the rings (representing the real, the symbolic, and the imaginary) interlock and support each other.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==See Also==
 
* [[Castration]]
 
* [[Formula of Fantasy]]
 
* [[Foreclosure]]
 
* [[Fragmentation]]
 
* [[Imaginary]]
 
* [[Internal/external reality]]
 
* [[Knot]]
 
* [[Object a]]
 
* [[Real, Symbolic, and Imaginary Father]]
 
* [[Signifier]]
 
* [[Symbolic]]
 
* [[Symptom]]
 
* [[Sinthome]]
 
 
 
 
 
==References==
 
<references/>
 
# Freud, Sigmund. (1900a). The interpretation of dreams. SE, 4: 1-338; 5: 339-625.
 
# ——. (1909b). Analysis of a phobia in a five-year-old boy. SE, 10: 1-149.
 
# ——. (1911c [1910]). Psycho-analytic notes on an autobiographical account of a case of paranoia (dementia paranoides). SE, 12: 1-82.
 
# ——. (1918b [1914]). From the history of an infantile neurosis. SE, 17: 1-122.
 
# ——. (1920g). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE,18:1-64.
 
# ——. (1925h). Negation. SE, 19: 233-239.
 
# Lacan, Jacques. (1966).Écrits. Paris: Seuil.
 
# ——. (1974-1975). Le séminaire. Book 22: R.S.I. Ornicar?, 2-5.
 
# ——. (1975). La troisième, intervention de J. Lacan le 31 octobre 1974. Lettres de l'École Freudienne, 16, 178-203.
 
# ——. (1976). Conférences et entretiens dans les universités nord-américaines. Scilicet, 6-7, 5-63.
 
# ——. (1978). The seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book 11: The four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis (Alan Sheridan, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1973)
 
# ——. (1982). Le symbolique, l'imaginaire et le réel. Bulletin de l'Association Freudienne, 1, 4-13.
 
# ——. (1985). Geneva lecture on the symptom (Russell Grigg, Trans.). Analysis, 1, 7-26. (Original work published 1975)
 
# ——. (1988). The seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book 2: The ego in Freud's theory and in the technique of psychoanalysis, 1954-1955 (Sylvana Tomaselli, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1978)
 
# ——. (1994). Le séminaire. Book 4: La relation d'objet (1956-1957). Paris: Seuil.
 
 
 
[[Category:Real]]
 
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
 
[[Category:Terms]]
 
[[Category:Concepts]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
[[Category:Kid A In Alphabet Land]]
 
{{Footer Kid A}}
 
[[Category:Dictionary]]
 

Latest revision as of 21:56, 20 May 2019

French: réel

The "real" stands for what is neither symbolic nor imaginary.

It forms part of a subjects reality, however it is never truly known, it is mediated by the two orders of the Imaginary and the Symbolic, thus while it is present, the subject treats it as inherently Othered and alien. It is most notably discussed in Freudian theory as 'Das Ding'. This is furthered in Lacan who often cites these Uncanny objects as reminders of symbolic lack in the subjects identity formation.