What is the phallus in psychoanalysis?

Le phallus. In Freudian psychoanalysis, the phallic stage is a particular stage of psychosexual development. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the child’s acquisition of a symbolic phallus is held to be necessary for the child’s construction as a symbolic, sexually differentiated subject.

What is the phallus Lacan?

The phallus is first and foremost a signifier and in Lacan’s system a particularly privileged signifier. The phallus operates in all three of Lacan’s registers – the imaginary, the symbolic and the real – and as his system develops it becomes the one single indivisible signifier that anchors the chain of signification.

What is the concept of objet petit a?

In the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, objet petit a stands for the unattainable object of desire. It is sometimes called the object cause of desire. Lacan always insisted that the term should remain untranslated, “thus acquiring the status of an algebraic sign” (Écrits).

What is the plural of phallus?

phallus. noun. phal·​lus | \ ˈfal-əs \ plural phalli\ ˈfal-​ˌī , -​ˌē \ or phalluses.

What is objet a Lacan?

As Lacan put it, “The objet a is something from which the subject, in order to constitute itself, has separated itself off as organ. . . . It must, therefore, be an object that is, firstly, separable and, secondly, that has some relation to the lack” (Seminar XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, p.

Is objet petit a in the real?

In the seminars of 1962-3 and of 1964, objet petit a is defined as the leftover, the remainder (Fr. reste), the remnant left behind by the introduction of the symbolic in the real.

What does Lacan argue?

It is this tension between the real and our social laws, meanings, conventions, desires, etc. that determines our psychosexual lives. Not even our unconscious escapes the effects of language, which is why Lacan argues that “the unconscious is structured like a language” (Four Fundamental 203).

What is a phallus called?

A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic.