real

is (if viewed through the game of chess) the entire complex set of contingent circumstances which affect the course of the game: The intelligence of the players, the unpredictable intrusions that may disconcert one of the players or directly cut the game short.

For Lacan, the reality of human beings is constituted by three mutually entangled levels: the Symbolic, the Imaginary, and the Real. This triad can be nicely illustrated by the game of chess. The rules one has to follow in order to play it are its symbolic dimension: from the purely formal symbolic standpoint, 'knight' is defined only by the moves this figure can make. This level is clearly different from the imaginary one, namely the way different pieces are shaped and characterized by their names (king, queen, knight), and it is easy to envision a game with the same rules, but with a different imaginary, in which this figure would be called 'messenger' or 'runner' or whatever. Finally, real is the entire complex set of contingent circumstances which affect the course of the game: the intelligence of the players, the unpredictable intrusions that may disconcert one of the players or directly cut the game short. (zizek : 'how to read lacan : 9)

is a closely woven fabric : It does not await our judgment before incorporating the most surprising phenomena, or before rejecting the most plausible figments of our imagination -perception is neither (1) science (2) an act (3) but the background from which all acts stand out.

The real is a closely woven fabric. It does not await our judgment before incorporating the most surprising phenomena, or before rejecting the most plausible figments of our imagination. Perception is not a science of the world, it is not even an act, a deliberate taking up of a position... it is the background from which all acts stand out and it is presupposed by them. (Merleau-Ponty 'what is phenomenology' : 58)

is a mere subset of the possible brought into existence as simply one of many possibles, but rather the other way around. The real comes first and guarantees the representational relation between the possible and the real.

possible and the real is attributed to a 'theological model of creation' in which the real is simply one of the many possibles, all of which resemble the real, that has been brought into existence. This is, loosely, a Platonic or Christian model in which every possible existent, whether that be an event or a being, has some existence in either an ideal or divine realm. What is real, on this model, is a subset of the possible. But in fact, Deleuze argues, the supposed set of possibles is simply an extrapolation from the real which guarantees the representational relation between the possible and the real' (Colwell 1997).

is a much more complex category than the idea of a fixed trans-historical 'hard core' that forever eludes symbolization... it has nothing to do with what kant called the 'thing-in-itself,' reality the way it is out there, independently of us, prior to being distorted by our perceptions.

The conclusion to be drawn is that the Lacanian Real is a much more complex category than the idea of a fixed trans-historical 'hard core' that forever eludes symbolization... it has nothing to do with what Immanuel Kant called the 'Thing-in-itself,' reality the way it is out there, independently of us, prior to being distorted by our perceptions: '/. . . / this notion is not at all Kantian. I even insist on this. If there is a notion of the real, it is extremely complex and, because of this, incomprehensible, it cannot be comprehended in a way that would make an All out of it.' (Zizek 'how to read lacan' : 55)

is impossible in so far as we cannot express it in language...because the very entrance into language marks our irrevocable separation from the real.

As far as humans are concerned, however, 'the real is impossible,' as Lacan was fond of saying. It is impossible in so far as we cannot express it in language because the very entrance into language marks our irrevocable separation from the real. (NET)

is impossible, yet still, it continues to exert its influence throughout our adult lives since it is the rock against which all our fantasies and linguistic structures ultimately fail.

Still, the real continues to exert its influence throughout our adult lives since it is the rock against which all our fantasies and linguistic structures ultimately fail. The real for example continues to erupt whenever we are made to acknowledge the materiality of our existence, an acknowledgement that is usually perceived as traumatic (since it threatens our very 'reality'), although it also drives Lacan's sense of jouissance. The Real works in tension with the imaginary order and the symbolic order. See the Lacan module on the structure of the psyche.' (NET)

is ironically, that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction.

the very definition of the real becomes: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction. the real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced. the hyper real.

is made up of its two mutually exclusive yet jointly sufficient characterizations: The virtual and the actual.

For Deleuze the virtual is a non-transcendental field that provides a set of conditions or potentials from which actual events and objects take form. In this sense the virutal and the actual are two mutually exclusive yet jointly sufficient characterizations of the real.

real, n.All

real