According
to Lacan's subject theory, the order of the real is everything which resists symbolization
and representation in the unconscious. The real according to Lacan is that
which resists the dialectical process typical of the symbolic order, in
which one signifier is interchangeable with another. The real according to
Lacan does not exist as a signifier. Lacan calls this phenomenon, which cannot
be symbolized, as the Thing (with a capital T). Lacan's concept of Thing is
inspired by Freud's distinction between things which are represented in the
unconscious and things that do not.
Since
the real for Lacan refers to an existence which cannot be a part of the
symbolic order, and therefore cannot be symbolized or conceptualized, it is
associated with trauma but also with pleasure, which subverts symbolic bans and
aims at achieving the Thing. The real is in a sense pure absence since it is
resistant to symbolization. For the same reason the real also lacks nothing.
The
real is associated for Lacan with the death drive: the relation between
destructive behavior and the obtainment of pleasure. The real is the realm of
pure pleasure, which is symbolically castrated by the symbolic order. Lacan
essentially talks about two types of subjects, the subject of language
and the subject of pleasure, which are not distinct from each other but rather
infused.
The
need for pleasure is formed according to Lacan at an early state, before
language is acquired, and in the context of the initial engagement with the
mother which produces satisfaction and frustration at the same time. Following birth,
the baby's first and most intimate contact is with the mother, and this is for
Lacan as intimate as he is ever going to get with anything. He calls this
sensation extimacy.
Extimacy
for Lacan is the source or a constant yearning the various forms of imagined
unities with ideal "others" (starting from the mother onwards to
ideology). The yearning is also for various forms of pleasure which include not
only enjoyment but also destruction. This is why the subject cherishes his
symptoms and even if he is willing to eventually give it up another one will
take its place. Symptom according to Lacan is a creative way to invent excess
pleasure in a place which limits pleasure. If identification with the name
of the father as a signifier in language has a castrating effect, the
symptom allows the subject to reunite the subject with its pleasure. This is
why the symptom according to Lacan is not only a subconscious message but also
an expression of the real which resists symbolic discipline.
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