Jacques Lacan

Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (UK: , US: lə-KAHN, French: [ʒak maʁi emil lakɑ̃]; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as “the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud”, Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris, from 1953 to 1981, and published papers that were later collected in the book Écrits. Transcriptions of his seminars, given between 1954 and 1976, were also published. His work made a significant impact on continental philosophy and cultural theory in areas such as post-structuralism, critical theory, feminist theory and film theory, as well as on the practice of psychoanalysis itself.

Lacan took up and discussed the whole range of Freudian concepts, emphasizing the philosophical dimension of Freud’s thought and applying concepts derived from structuralism in Linguistics and Anthropology to its development in his own work, which he would further augment by employing formulae from predicate logic and topology. Taking this new direction, and introducing controversial innovations in clinical practice, led to expulsion for Lacan and his followers from the International Psychoanalytic Association. In consequence, Lacan went on to establish new psychoanalytic institutions to promote and develop his work, which he declared to be a “return to Freud”, in opposition to prevalent trends in psychology and institutional psychoanalysis collusive of adaptation to social norms.

wikipedia/en/Jacques%20Lacan

Lacan’s Mirror Stage describes a pivotal moment in infant development (6-18 months) where a child recognizes its reflection as a unified, stable self. This identification forms the ego, but it’s a fundamental misrecognition because the child does not experience a truly unified body. Instead, the child identifies with an idealized, external image of wholeness, creating a sense of “I” and an “Ideal I” that masks their initial fragmented bodily reality. This process establishes the ego as a fundamental misrecognition, a necessary step in the formation of identity and the assumption of social roles within language and the world.

The Process and Its Significance

Fragmented Experience to Unified Image: Before the mirror stage, a child’s experience of their body is fragmented, lacking coordination and a sense of a unified whole.

Specular Image: The infant encounters a mirror, or another mediating other, and sees a complete, organized image of themselves.

Identification: The child jubilantly identifies with this idealized image, internalizing it as a unified representation of their body. This is the “Ideal I”.

Formation of the Ego: This identification forms the ego, the “I” of the subject. However, the ego is not the true self but an alienating identity based on this external image.

Misrecognition: The ego is based on an illusion of wholeness and mastery, which doesn’t reflect the child’s actual, internally felt fragmented experience.

Preparation for the Social World: This process equips the child with a psychic structure to inhabit a body and distinguishes the self from the outside world, a necessary precursor to entering the social and symbolic order of language and relationships.

Key Concepts

Ego: The construct formed by identifying with the mirror image, which is an illusion of wholeness.

Ideal I: The idealized, perfect image the infant identifies with, providing an imaginary ideal of perfection.

Misrecognition: The foundational process of the ego, where the subject identifies with external images and ideas, rather than their own true, fragmented reality.

Imaginary Order: The domain of images and identifications, where the self is first constructed through external reflections before entering the Symbolic order of language and social structures.