라캉의 의미론

Lacanian Theory on Meaning: S₁-S₂

The Lacanian subject comes into being through an unconditional submission or subjection to the Other as signifiers, as is manifested in the forced choice concerning the metaphor of “money or life.” This symbolically castrating process brings about a split and barred subject $, transforming the subject-to-be from an ontological plane to a semantic one. Viewed in terms of signification, the coming-to-be of the subject is tantamount to a successful realization of the paternal metaphor or the signifying substitution: S₁/S₂. Only when a unary signifier S₁ operates in a differentiating relation to the binary signifier S₂, as is the case with the “fort/da” game, the subject has full access to the signifying chain or the symbolic order. This is what Lacan means by the dictum that the signifier is that which represents the subject for another signifier. The situation of the S₁ to which the S₂ represents a subject has to do with another dictum of Lacan’s: “Dialectize a master signifier.” Dialectization is the Lacanian term used to introduce an outside of the S₁, that is, to establish an opposition between it and another signifier, S₂. If this S₁ can be brought into some kind of relationship with another signifier, then its status as a master signifier freezing, subjugating the subject changes. This change leads to the precipitation of subjectivity and an analytic cure as well. Thus, when a master signifier is dialectized, metaphorization occurs, the subject is precipitated, and the subject assumes a new position. This is what is meant by the ‘signifying substitution.’