Chapter 3: Lacan and Structuralism Flashcards
According to Saussure, was the system of language synchronic or diachronic?
Synchronic
What does it mean for a system of language to be synchronic?
A synchronic system of language means that linguistics needs to study language as a system at a particular moment in time, a very thin slice of time.
What characterizes structuralism?
The orientation of language from diachronic to synchronic.
What characterizes synchronic language?
Signs and symbols are what characterize synchronic language.
How do signifiers acquire meaning?
Signifiers acquire meaning only through their differences from other signifiers.
What are the three Lacanian registers?
The imaginary; the symbolic; and the real.
Define the imaginary Lacanian register.
The world of imaginary images, images that the subject introjects from the world and projects onto the world. The mirror stage is crucial to the imaginary.
Define the symbolic Lacanian register.
The symbolic register is the realm of language (i.e. signifiers and signified).
What does Lacan state is the master signifier?
Lacan said that the phallus was the master signifier.
Is the phallus the same as the penis?
No, the phallus is a more symbolic representation of power, whereas the penis is simply anatomy. You do not have to have a penis in order to have the phallus.
Define the Lacanian register of the real.
The real is everything that escapes the “reality” constructed by the imaginary and the symbolic.
If the phallus is the master signifier of language, then what must language be shaped as in relation to the phallus?
All language will be shaped as a desiring object to the phallus.
What is the master signifier?
The master signifier is the signifier that doesn’t need another word to give it meaning. All words are either directly or remotely connected to it, but it does not need a definition.
In Saussure’s linguistics, why is the master signifier necessary?
The master signifier is necessary to create a closed system. Otherwise, chaos ensues.
The argument that the master signifier is the phallus assumes what?
To argue that the master signifier is the phallus argues that language itself is shaped by desire and relation to the phallus.
According to Lacan, what is the mirror stage?
In the mirror stage, the young infant sees their image in the mirror and has what Lacan calls an “aha” or Eureka moment, recognizing itself in the mirror image.
How does the mirror stage create alienation?
The mirror stage creates alienation because “No longer am I here, but I am out there in the mirror”. The child identifies more with the mirror image than with their own body
