The concept of subject is defined in TDK as "a word or phrase that indicates the person or thing that performs the action declared in a sentence or takes on the situation declared by the predicate." In the language of philosophy, the subject is defined as "a being that has consciousness, intuition, imagination, tends to know, but is not itself an object of knowledge." In the language of psychology, this word has rarely found a place, and the expressions "self" and "self" are preferred instead of the word subject. Freud's concept of "I (ich)" was adopted by other theorists and became the main factor in the establishment of Self Psychology. Lacan expressed this expression as 'subject' in his theory in order to distinguish himself from the theorists of Self Psychology. Lacan stated that Freud could not be understood correctly by other theorists, and he thought of distinguishing himself from other theorists by using the word subject. He stated that he took many concepts, which he expressed in different words, from Freud and that these expressions were also found in Freud.
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan is a psychiatrist who lived between 1901-1981. Born in Paris, Lacan had a middle-class and religious family. His father was an economically strong merchant and his mother was a housewife who was strictly devoted to her religion. The family took care to raise their children in line with their own beliefs and raised their first child as a rabbi. However, Lacan did not accompany these belief systems of his family. Lacan, the youngest of four children, became interested in philosophy at an early age. After his medical education, he specialized in psychiatry and wrote his first article on psychosis. Lacan has been a theorist who prefers speaking rather than writing. He attracted the attention of famous philosophers and poets with the lectures he gave and created a distinguished and popular image. Lacan's books are also composed of compilations of conference books (Homer, 2013).
Although Lacan defines himself as a Freudian interpreter, he states that he wants to return to Freud (Kaçar, 2018). However, the concepts used by Lacan increased so much that he became a rival to Freud, and after a while he evolved towards creating his own theory rather than interpreting Freud.
Lacan's first conference (1936) was the most cited When he explained the concept of 'mirror phase', his speech was interrupted by the moderator. This event was remembered as a symbolic event of Lacan's controversial concepts and life. His speech at the aforementioned conference was removed from the records by Lacan. At the end of the conference, Lacan gave his paper to Freud.
Just as Lacan's approach was controversial at the theory level, his clinical practices were also controversial. His clients complained about the shortness of the session and the high fee. Lacan's theoretical rigidity was reflected in the utmost comfort in the sessions. The client could smoke a cigar and even bring his manicurist with him. Anna Freud, the president of the Psychoanalysis Association of the period, removed Lacan from membership of the association because he did not comply with the psychoanalysis session standards.
Reading, listening and understanding Lacan has been difficult in every age. Many theorists criticize this incomprehensible aspect of Lacan and see Lacan as someone who strives to make his work incomprehensible. As a matter of fact, Lacan accepts these criticisms in his conferences and states that the meanings of the concepts he uses change for him from time to time (Başer, 2012). One of the factors that makes Lacan difficult to understand is that he does not write and prefers to convey his knowledge through conferences.
Lacan and important concepts:
The Real World: According to Lacan, the concepts of truth and reality are different from each other. Reality can be seen as conformity with the values of the world we are in at that moment. Reality, on the other hand, is a perception of the world that contains integrity and does not contain any emptiness or meaninglessness. There are no parts left out. For this reason, it cannot be seen, it can only be felt. It is directly opposite the imaginary and symbolic planes. “Reality does not exist” is resistant to symbolization. That is, reality cannot be explained through language. Experiences of reality are unique periods such as birth and death. Traumatic experiences are also a theme of reality. Traumatic memories cannot be explained, they can only be experienced. To be resolved, that memory must be experienced emotionally again. The world of reality shows the characteristics of Freud's concept of Id (Tuzgöl, 2018).
Imaginary world:The baby steps into the imaginary world as soon as he begins to make emotional meanings. He has now lost touch with the real world and will not be able to return. In fact, the imaginary world is built on the real world. The real world, where there is no room for emptiness, begins to create various contradictions due to contact and communication with objects. In parallel with Marterson's view that images form our self, Lacan also argues that the subject is formed in the imaginary period. The self is an effect of images. In short, it is an imaginary function. It is the stage in which the ego, that is, the subject, reaches its own consciousness.
Lacan also explains the concept of the mirror stage as a concept belonging to this world. Physical integrity is completed. The subject needs someone else to be complete. Realizing that you are a different object creates the awareness that you are also an object. The world is an object to be experienced apart from me. The difference between self and other begins to be understood. But he has not yet become a full subject. It is still missing. It must speak and exist
Symbolic world:At this stage, the subject is now completed. After the acceptance of external objects, the will of external objects is also realized. People who are understood to be independent (parents) have desires. Beyond that, society consists of certain rules. The concept of law begins to form. The incest prohibition is noticed and the fear of castration and castration develops at this stage. The child is in Freud's oedipal phase. According to Lacan, there is no need for a concrete father for the oedipal stage. What matters is your father's name. The father exists culturally, unconsciously.
The concept of phallus is associated with the symbolic period. Here too, as in Freud's explanation of genderlessness, the only gender is male. Women were created incomplete. The deficiency that is meant is that the difference between the genders of men and women - the male sexual organ - is perceived as a psychological deficiency. The girl rationalizes this deficiency as her mother giving birth to her incompletely and reproaches her mother. Another paradox here is that the female figure is perceived as strong. Phallus is translated into Turkish as desire.
Unconscious:Lacan uses the expression "It is structured like a language" for the unconscious. to Lacan The unconscious is outside and is formed under the influence of culture. The subject accompanies the unconscious outside in different roles. This situation is called repetition automatism. There are certain roles in the events in the world we live in. We get into and out of these roles. The emergence of the same themes in different events is called repetition automatism. Lacan's concept of the unconscious is similar to Yung's concept of the collective unconscious.
The subjectification process of the subject
In this section, we will examine Lacan as a developmental theorist. Lacan uses the concept of "self" as "subject". Before the baby was born, the mother and father were there and they desired the baby. Since the baby is still "nothing", he is unaware of this desire. In order to fully feel this desire, he must have completed the subjectification process. When the baby is born into the real world, it experiences symbiosis just as Mahler mentioned. He does not understand the difference between himself and those around him and assumes that he is one with the world. This integrity is not a unity that can contain meaninglessness and emptiness. Every object in the world belongs to and is complementary to this whole.
Baby 6-18. He begins to experience the imaginary period between months, that is, in the period that Freud calls preoedipal. At this stage, the baby's subjectification process begins. The baby now notices other objects. In this way, he realizes that they are separate from him and that he is an object in the eyes of other objects. The mirror phase occurs during this period. By the word mirror, Lacan means both a physical mirror and the perception of self reflected from others. When the baby is born, he does not perceive his body as a whole. We can observe this by the baby's fear of his own movements. Thanks to the mirror stage, the baby begins to maintain body integrity. The baby has started the process of subjectification, but in order to be a full subject, it must be a speaking subject.
When the baby enters the symbolic period, words can express emotions. In addition, the baby experiences the will of others and more, the unconscious. The concept of law was formed. This phase is Freud's oedipal phase and is the phase in which the superego is formed. While the baby learns some information through language, he hears some information. cares The first teaching of the unconscious is the prohibition of incest. The baby learns this prohibition even though it is never spoken about. The important stage in the formation process of the subject is the stage of becoming a speaking subject. The statement "The unconscious is structured like a language" is evaluated in this context. By speaking, the subject is exposed to the unconscious and at the same time creates the unconscious. The speaking subject is not free. He adopted the laws of language. Lacan's subject symbol is the same as the dollar sign. The line above the letter S, which is the initial letter of its English equivalent, symbolizes the lack of the subject. The subject has been formed, but it is incomplete and this deficiency will never be closed. The reason for this deficiency is that the subject cannot be free and independent from the object. Lacan says, “the subject is inside and outside the object.” With this word, he states that the subject is formed thanks to the object, that is, the mother, and that it is impossible to become independent, and that it cannot return after being separated from the object, and that it will eventually lose its subjectivity again with death and become the object again. Now let's look at this word from the object side, namely the parents. Mother and father want to continue to exist thanks to the child. When the baby is born, it is the object of desire for the parents, and Lacan states that this desire is the source of the baby's desire. During the process of subjectification, the baby behaves differently than being the object of desire of the parents, and the situation disturbs the parents. This conflict creates a contradiction that must be fought for both the subject and the object. According to Lacan, the subject will never be complete, in fact, it will be able to become a subject thanks to its incompleteness.
Conclusion
Lacan is a person who has made it his mission to interpret and understand Freud. He was a theorist. Although the ideas he put forward created controversy, they became an important resource for the science of psychology. Saying that the subject's process of becoming a subject is an endless path, Lacan argues that humans naturally have shortcomings and that this shortcoming is actually a feature of the subject.
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