mirror stage

is a model for the formation of the ego. The optics of the mirror are those of the object reflected in it. The model for the ego is an object, and what that leaves out of play is the entire dimension of subjectivity, and in particular the unconscious dimension for which the symbolic provides a model.

What the mirror stage describes is the formation of the ego, and the optics of the mirror are those of the object reflected in it. The model for the ego is an object, and what that leaves out of play is the entire dimension of subjectivity, and in particular the unconscious dimension for which the Symbolic provides a model. (This is one of the reasons Lacan avoids that commonplace of much psychology, the term 'self,' carrying as it does so much freight of a personal, internal object.)

is the process of one's physiological maturation which allows the subject, at a given moment in his history, to integrate effectively his motor functions, and to gain access to a real mastery of his body.

you know that the process of his physiological maturation allows the subject, at a given moment in his history, to integrate effectively his motor functions, and to gain access to a real mastery of his body (Lacan : topic of the imaginary 80)

is that moment at which the sight alone of the whole form of the human body in the mirror gives the subject an imaginary mastery over his body.

This is what I insist upon in my theory of the mirror-stage the sight alone of the whole form of the human body gives the subject an imaginary mastery over his body, one which is premature in relation to a real mastery (Lacan : topic of the imaginary 79)

mirror stage, n.All

mirror stage