Magritte's Mirrors

Rene Magritte, "The False Mirror," 1928

René Magritte, "Portrait of Edward James," 1937

"I have myself shown... why human knowledge is determined in that 'little reality' [that paucity of reality] which the Surrealists, in their restless way, saw as its limitation" (3-4)

Picasso's mirror

Pablo Picasso, "Woman Before a Mirror," 1932

PRECIS- Peter Pan's Shadow

In the article, Lacan discusses the idea of the "I" complex. The idea he uses is that when children are little they are unable to comprehend most things in their world; however, they are able to recognize themselves in their reflections. Do you ever wonder why children are so fascinated with mirrors? It is because it is something that they recognize.

As the article progresses, Lacan develops his argument suggesting that you have to understand the reflection before you can understand the many attempts at replication in the world around us. It reminds me of Peter Pan, when Peter is attempting to reign in his shadow. He didn't understand what it was but felt that he wouldn't be able to do anything until he was able to control it (by sewing it to himself). This idea that we have to move away from the mirror is also similar to Plato's cave. In the Allegory of the cave, there are prisoners who are unable to move but can only see the distorted images on the wall. In Lacan's argument, there aren't distorted images, but there are the children (18 months) that are stuck in front of the mirror, unable to stand and walk away from their image but all they can do is lean closer and hope to make more clarity of the situation.

Where are we in relationship to the mirror? Are we still the small child trying to make sense of the only thing that we can see, ourselves? Or are we ready to look out into the world of replication and attempt to make sense of that?

Phrase: Unreal is not imaginary

Lacan says, "Unreal is not imaginary" (205).  Lacan tries to explain the libido as an organ even though he says that this organ does not actually exist.  He states "the unreal is defined by articulating itself on the real in a way that eludes us, and it is precisely this that requires that its representation should be mythical, as I have made it (205).  I picked this phrase because I think Lacan and Freud are both trying to explain something that has no textile existence but we know is there or we know something is happening to us.  Lacan tries to explain the libido in the human being by relating it to an organ and Freud uses the uncanny to try and explain the deja vu phenomenon.  Both are things that happen to us as humans but we are unsure of as to why.  Lacan says it best when he says "But the fact that it is unreal does not prevent an organ from embodying itself" (205).  The quote goes along with the saying, "if you believe it to be true, then it is true."

Precis/ The Mirror Stage

Lacan writes in his "The Mirror Stage" that we are first conscious of our perceptions when we (as infants) see our reflections in the mirror. This is a distorted image, however, an imago, which the OED defines as an "idealized mental picture of oneself." Lacan often brings up matters of "spatiality" and anatomical "incompleteness" that lead to a fragmented notion of oneself (4). From this incomplete/fragmented perception, and this notion of meconnaissance (an "illusion of autonomy"), the Ego emerges (6). He discusses the "secondariness" of the "I"--how it is secondary to false recognition of oneself (the meconnaissance) and that it provides the "most extensive definition of neurosis" (7).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaques_Lacan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_stage http://science.jrank.org/pages/11347/Structuralism-Poststructuralism-Jacques-Lacan-Michel-Foucault-Gilles-Deleuze.html

word: DOUBLE--Sarah Knoth

DOUBLE

 

OED’s definition:

 b. A counterpart; an image, or exact copy (of a thing or person).    c. spec. The apparition of a living person; a wraith, fetch.

 

The word double in Lacan’s Ecrits is the word that helps the reader wrap his head Lacan’s theory and around the ideas of the Gestalt principle, the id, the ego, and the mirror. In his essay, Lacan tries to explain to his reader the process of a person’s understanding of his own existence. What’s interesting about the OED’s definition is that it’s first attempt to explain the double is to compare it to the word counterpart. In this case, our counterpart is our mirror-image. Lacan goes on to explain to the reader the significance of identification. This identification can be found through the mirror stage---seeing one’s double---and then advancing to the revelation of the “relation between the organism and its reality (4). I found it interesting that the human infant can become conscious of his existence through the image of his double in a mirror; therefore, we have a greater understanding and a greater “autonomy than animal knowledge” (3). With this comparison, it is essential to the reader that he understands the significance of a reflection. My dog still barks at herself when she sees her double in the reflection of our glass sliding door; I, on the other hand, don’t get scared with I see my double because I have an understanding of my reality and my existence, or as much as I can thus far.

 

ttp://bert.lib.indiana.edu:2055/cgi/entry/50068959?query_type=word&queryword=double&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=GuOY-xXzhUT-18865&hilite=50068959

DOUBLE

 

OED’s definition:

 b. A counterpart; an image, or exact copy (of a thing or person).    c. spec. The apparition of a living person; a wraith, fetch.

 

The word double in Lacan’s Ecrits is the word that helps the reader wrap his head Lacan’s theory and around the ideas of the Gestalt principle, the id, the ego, and the mirror. In his essay, Lacan tries to explain to his reader the process of a person’s understanding of his own existence. What’s interesting about the OED’s definition is that it’s first attempt to explain the double is to compare it to the word counterpart. In this case, our counterpart is our mirror-image. Lacan goes on to explain to the reader the significance of identification. This identification can be found through the mirror stage---seeing one’s double---and then advancing to the revelation of the “relation between the organism and its reality (4). I found it interesting that the human infant can become conscious of his existence through the image of his double in a mirror; therefore, we have a greater understanding and a greater “autonomy than animal knowledge” (3). With this comparison, it is essential to the reader that he understands the significance of a reflection. My dog still barks at herself when she sees her double in the reflection of our glass sliding door; I, on the other hand, don’t get scared with I see my double because I have an understanding of my reality and my existence, or as much as I can thus far.

 http://bert.lib.indiana.edu:2055/cgi/entry/50068959?query_type=word&queryword=double&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=GuOY-xXzhUT-18865&hilite=50068959

Word: "EGO"

"EGO"

Lacan uses the word "ego" in his work focusing on the "mirror stage" (2). According to the OED, "ego" can mean:

"1. That which is symbolized by the pronoun I; the conscious thinking subject, as opposed to the non-ego or object. Also humorously, for ‘self’."

or:

"2. In speech: I, the speaker. Hence ego v. trans., to say ‘ego’ when claiming an object, in response to ‘quis?’. Schoolboy slang."

The OED lists a few other definitions that are also related to Lacan's intended meaning, but I believe the most effective to use in this instance in which he uses the word "ego" is "the sense of one's identity or self gained from the results of self-perception and external perceptions of oneself."

This Lacan does use "ego" to refer to self, as in the first two definitions, but this last "sense of one's identity..." works with his statement of "the agency of ego, before its social determination...by which he [the self] must resolve as I his discordance with his own reality" (2).
The OED speaks of using "external perceptions" to determine one's identity. At this point in Lacan's argument, he states that the self is exposed to his own image without the realization that "the other" exists. Therefore, he must come to terms with his "ego" or identity before social influence can teach him how to view himself. He must create his own reality.
Lacan's description of the "mirror stage" and mimesis asks how one can truly determine his identity. Is mimesis or one's mirror image an "other" or entirely oneself? Is true reality the seeing of oneself without any social comparisons or with the full exposure to society and others?

Oxford English Dictionary
http://dictionary.oed.com