MDSA01H3 Study Guide - Final Guide: Jacques Lacan, Mirror Stage, Reality Principle
Document Summary
Pleasure principle- the uncontrollable human drive to satisfy desire, or an appetite for something that promises enjoyment, satisfaction, and pleasure in its attainment. The reality principle- represents the constant curbing of desire according to possibility, law, or social convention. Repression- proposed by freud, is the process of mentally containing our desires below conscious recognition or expression. The unconscious- the part of the mind that acts as a reservoir for the desire, and it always attempts to make repressed desires felt again by interjecting them into conscious life. The imaginary- is similar to the freudian pre-oedipal, pleasurable stage where the infant feels whole and connected to everything via the bond to the mother. Alienation describes the condition of the subject who no longer recognizes himself, or rather can only recognize himself via the other. The philosophical background of this concept derives from hegel and then marx. The symbolic- a realm or cultural plane of social meanings and relationships.
