Sinthome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The sinthome is a concept used in the work of the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. According to Lacan, sinthome is an archaic way of spelling the French word symptôme, meaning symptom.
The term did not appear in his work until 1975. Lacan originally conceived of the symptom as a coded signifier, but his definition gradually shifted towards that of the way in which each subject enjoys his/her unconscious. The sinthome was finally introduced as the signifying formula beyond analysis, that which allows one to live by organizing the subject's jouissance.
In his 1975-6 seminar, Lacan defines the sinthome as an additional fourth ring in his topological model of the psyche which holds together the three rings of the Borromean knot representing the Real, the Imaginary and the Symbolic orders. In this seminar, he provides a reading of James Joyce which explains Joyce's writing as his sinthome. According to Lacan, Joyce managed to avoid psychosis by using his art as a supplementary knot.
[edit] References
- Evans, Dylan, An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Routledge, 1996.
[edit] External Links
 This psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
