imaginary

is (if viewed through the game of chess) the way different pieces are shaped and characterized by their names (king, queen, knight) which are just as easily replaced by a different imaginary (messenger, runner, or whatever).

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 concerned with the ego whereas the symbolic is concerned with the subject.

the ego is imaginary, whereas the subject is linked by Lacan to the symbolic

is concerned with the mirror stage and marks the movement of the subject from primal need to 'demand'. Whereas needs can be fulfilled, demands (to quell anxiety by making the other part of itself) are, by definition, unsatisfiable.

As the connection to the mirror stage suggests, the 'imaginary' is primarily narcissistic even though it sets the stage for the fantasies of desire. (For Lacan's understanding of desire, see the next module.) Whereas needs can be fulfilled, demands are, by definition, unsatisfiable... in other words, we are already making the movement into the sort of lack that, for Lacan, defines the human subject. Once a child begins to recognize that its body is separate from the world and its mother, it begins to feel anxiety, which is caused by a sense of something lost. The demand of the child, then, is to make the other a part of itself, as it seemed to be in the child's now lost state of nature (the neo-natal months). The child's demand is, therefore, impossible to realize and functions, ultimately, as a reminder of loss and lack. (')

is defined by games of mirroring, of duplication, reversed identification, always in the mode of the double.

The imaginary is defined by games of mirroring, of duplication, of reversed identification and projection, always in the mode of the double.5 (Deleuze 'desert islands' 2002: 172)

is not formed in opposition to reality as its denial or compensation. It is born, grows, and takes shape in the interval between signs, repetitions, and commentaries in books books.

The imaginary is not formed in opposition to reality as its denial or compensation... it grows among signs, from book to book, in the interstice of repetitions and commentaries... it is born and takes shape in the interval between books. It is the phenomena of the library. Michel Foucault

is primarily narcissistic even though it sets the stage for the fantasies of desire.

 serves an assimilating, reflecting, doubling and duplicating role (in contrast to the symbolic which serves a differentiating role).

As we saw, there was a first difference between the imaginary and the symbolic... the differentiating role of the symbolic, in opposition to the assimilating and reflecting role, doubling and duplicating, of the imaginary. (Deleuze 'desert islands' structuralism: : 185)

is the fundamental narcissism by which the subject creates images of himself and ideal object of desire.

IMAGINARY ORDER. The fundamental narcissism by which the human subject creates fantasy images of both himself and his ideal object of desire, according to Lacan. The imaginary order is closely tied to Lacan's theorization of the mirror stage. What must be remembered is that for Lacan this imaginary realm continues to exert its influence throughout the life of the adult and is not merely superceded in the child's movement into the symbolic order. Indeed, the imaginary and the symbolic are, according to Lacan, inextricably intertwined and work in tension with the Real. See the Lacan module on the structure of the psyche' (NET).

imaginary, n.Definitions

imaginary