ONE The mirror stageas formativeof the function of the I as revealedin psychoanalytic experienc.e

Deliveredat the r6th IntemationalCongress of Psychoanalysis,Ztirich, July 4t r94g I}"{{ 'l'lte conceptionof the mirror stagethat I introduced at our last congress, tltirtccn years ago, has since become more or less establishedin the pnctice of the French group. However, I think it worthwhile to bring it rguin to your attention, especiallytoday, for the light it sheds on the firrtrtationof the.f aswe experienceit in psychoanalysis.It is an experience tlrnt leadsus to oppose any philosophy directly issuing from the Cogito. .Someof you may recall that this conception originated in a featureof human behaviour illuminated by a fact of comparativepsychology. The clrild, at an age when he is for a time, however short, outdone by the eltinrpanzeein instrumental intelligence,can neverthelessalready recog- nlr as such his own image in a mirror. This recognition is indicated in tlrc illuminative mimicry of the Aha-Erlebnis, which Kohler seesas the orprcssion of situational apperception,an essentialstage of the act of lntclligence. 'l'lris act, far from exhaustingitself, as in the caseof the monkey, once tlre inragehas been masteredand found empty, immediately rebounds lrt thc caseof the child in a seriesof gesturesin which he experiencesin phy the relation betweenthe movementsassumed in the image and the rcflt'ctcdenvironment, and betweenthis virtual complex and the reality it rduplicates - the child's own body, and the personsand things, around lrim. 'l'his cvent can take place,as we have known sinceBaldwin, from the rf{e'o{'six months, and its repetitionhas often mademe reflectupon the rt.trtling spcctacleof the infant in front of the mirror. Unable as yet to w.rlk, ()r cvcn to stand up, and held tightly as he is by some support, Ittttrurrrrrr arti{icial (what, in France,we calla'trotte-bibi')rhe nevertheless ov('rc()l'n('s,in a fluttt'rof jubilantactivity, the obstructionsof his support z Ecrits: A Selection The mirror stage 3

I and, fixing his attitude in a slightly leaning-forward position, in order to dominatehim, or with the automatonin which, in an ambiguousrelation, I hold it in his gaze,brings back an instantaneousaspect of the image. rhe world of his own making tends to find completion. I For me, this activity retainsthe meaningI have given it up to the age Indeed, for the imagos- whose veiled facesit is our privilege to seein of eighteenmonths. This meaning disclosesa libidinal dynamism,which outline in our daily experienceand in the penumbraof symbolic efficacityz has hitherto remainedproblematic, as well as an ontological structure of the mirror-image would seemto be the threshold of the visible world, the human world that accordswith my reflectionson paranoiacknowledge. lf we go by the mirror dispositionthat theimago of one'sown body Presents 'We have only to understand the mirror stagec$ an identifcation, in the in hallucinationsor dreams,whether it concernsits individual features, full sensethat analysisgives to the term: namely, the transformationthat or even its infirmities, or its obiect-projections;or i.f we observethe role takesplace in the subjectwhen he assumesan image - whose predestina- of the mirror apparatusin the appearancesof the doublerinwhich psychical tion to this phase-effectis sufficiently indicated by the use, in analytic rcalities,however heterogeneous,are manifested. theory, of the ancient term imago. 'Ihat a Gestalt should be capableof formative effectsin the organism This assumptionof his specularimage by the child at the kfans lr attestedby piece of biological experimentationthat is itself so alien iubilant " stage,still sunk in his motor incapacityand nursling dependence,would to rhe idea of psychical causalitythat it cannot bring itself to formulate seemto exhibit in an exemplary situation the symbolic matrix in which 16 resultsin these terms. It neverthelessrecognizes that it is a necessary the .I is precipitated in a primordial form, before it is obiectified in the qrndition for the maturation of the gonad of the female pigeon that it dialecticof identification with the other, and before languagerestores to rlrould see another member of its species,of either sex; so sufficient in it, in the universal, its function as subject. filclf is this condition that the desiredeffect may be obtained merely by This form would have to be called the ldeal-I,l if we wished to in- phcing the individual within reach of the field of reflection of a mirror. corporate it into our usual register, in the sensethat it will also be the Similarly, in the case of the migratory locust, the transition within a sourceof secondaryidentifications, under which term I would place the fencration from the solitary to the gregariousform can be obtained by functions of libidinal normalization. But the important point is that this crposing the individual, at a certain stage,to the exclusivelyvisual action form situatesthe agencyof the ego, before its social determination,in a of ;r similar image, provided it is animatedby movementsof a style suffi- fictional direction, which will always remain irreducible for the individual cicntly closeto that characteristicof the species.Such facts are inscribed alone,or rather, which will only reioin the coming-into-being (le devenir) fn un order of homeomorphicidentification thatwould itself fallwithin the of the subiect asymptotically, whatever the successof the dialectical brycr quesrionof the meaningof beauty as both formative and erogenic. synthesesby which he must resolve as .I his discordancewith his own llut the factsof mimicry are no lessinstructive when conceivedas cases reality. of hctcromorphic identification, in as much as they raise the problem of The fact is that the total form of the body by which the subjectantici- tlre significationof spacefor the living organism- psychologicalconcePts pates in a mirage the maturation of his power is given to him only as lurrlly seemless appropriatefor shedding light on these mattersthan Gestaltrthatis to say,in an exteriority in which this form is certainly more rftlicukrusattempts to reducethem to the supposedlysupreme law of constituent than constituted,but in which it appearsto him above all in rrlapration.We have only to recall how Roger Caillois (who"was then a contrasting size (un relief de stature) that fixes it and in a symmetry that vrry young, and still fresh from his breachwith the sociologicalschool inverts it, in contrast with the turbulent movementsthat the subiectfeels In rvlrich hc was trained) illuminated the subject by using the term are animating him. Thus, this Gesralt- whose pregnancy shouid be re- 'legcnlur.ypsychastltenia' to classify morphological mimicry as an ob- garded as bound up with the species,though its motor style remains rnrirn rvitlrspace in its derealizingeffect. scarcelyrecognizable - by thesetwo aspectsof its appearance,symbolizes I lurvcrnysclf shown in the socialdialectic that structureshuman know- the mentalpermanenceof thedat the sametime asit prefiguresitsalienat- hrlg,. rs l)i.rranoiac3rvlry lrumanknowledge has greaterautonomy than ing destination;it is still pregnantwith thc corrcspondencesthat unite the onirrr.rlkrrorvlt.rlgt,in rcl;.tliorr lo rlrcllcld of firrceof desire,but alsowhy .I with the statuein which man projcctslrirnst'll, rvitlr thc phantomsthat Irtrrrr.rrrkrr,,rvlt'rlgt'is

which the Surrealists,in their resdessw4y, saw as its limitation. These from the fifteenth century to the imaginary zenith of modern man. But this reflectionslead me to recognizein the spatialcaptation manifested in the firrm is even tangibly revealedat the organic level, in the lines of 'fta$liza- mirror-stage, even before the social dialectic, the effect in man of an tion' that definethe anatomy of phantasy,as exhibited in the schizoidand organic insufficiency in his natural realiry - in so far as any meaning can rpasmodicsymptoms of hysteria. be given to the word 'nature'. Correlatively, the formation of the .I is symbolized in dreams by a I am led, therefore, to regard the function of the mirror-stage as a firrtress, or a stadium - its inner arena and enclosure, surrounded by particular caseof the function of the imagorwhich is to establisha relation marshesand rubbish-tips, dividing it into two opposed fields of contest between the organism and its reality - or: as they say, between the where the subject flounders in quest of the loftyr.remote inner castle fnnenwelt and the Umwelt. wltoseform (sometimesjuxtaposed in the samescenario) symbolizes the fn man, however, this relation to nature is altered by u certain de- ld in a quite startling way. Similarly, on the mental plane,we find realized hiscenceat the heart of the organism, a primordial Discord betrayedby tlte structures of fortified works, the metaphor of which arises spon- the signs of uneasinessand motor unco-ordination of the neo-natal hneously, as if issuing from the symptoms themselves,to designatethe months. The obiective notion of the anatomicalincompleteness of the mechanismsof obsessionalneurosis - inversion, isoladon, reduplication, pyramidal system and likewise the presenceof certain humoral residues cencellationand displacement. of the maternal organism confirm the view I have formulated as the fact But if we were to build on these subiective givens alone - however of a real specifcprematurity of birth in man. llttle we free them from the condition of experiencethat makes us see It is worth noting, incidentally, that this is a fact recognizedas such by tlrcm aspartaking of the nature of a linguistic technique- our theoretical embryologists,by the termfoetaligationrwhich determines the prevalence iltcmpts would remain exposedto the charge of projecting themselves of the so-called superior apparatusof the neurax, and especiallyof the fnto the unthinkable of an absolutesubject. This is why I have sought in cortex, which psycho-surgicaloperations lead us to regard as the intra- thc presenthypothesis, grounded in a conjuncdon of objective data, the organic mirror. ;uiding grid for a methodof symbolicreduction. This developmentis experiencedas a temporal dialecticthat decisively It establishesin the defencesof the ego a genetic order, in accordance projects the formation of the individual into history. The mirror stageis rith the wish formulated by Miss Anna Freud, in the first part of her a dramawhose internal thrust is precipitatedfrom insufficiencyto anrici- Itclt work, and situates (as against a frequently expressedpreiudice) Pation - and which manufacturesfor the subject,caught up in the lure of lryrterical repressionand its returns at a more archaic stage than ob- spatial identification, the successionof phantasiesthat extends from a nrional inversion and its isolating processes,and the latter in turn as fragmentedbody-image to a form of its totality that I shall call ortho- plcliminary to paranoicalienation, which datesfrom the deflectionof the paedic - and, lastly, to the assumption of the armour of an alienating r;rt'ular ^I into the social.L identity, which will mark with its rigid structure the subiect's enrire 'l'his moment in which the mirror-stage comesto an end inaugurates, mental development.Thus, to break out of the circle of the fnnenweltinto by rlre identification with the imago of the counterpart and the drama of the Umwelt generatesthe inexhaustible quadrature of the ego's verifica- prirrrordial jealousy (so well brought out by the school of Charlotte tions. Bulrlcr in the phenomenonof infantile transitivism)rthe dialecticthat will This fragmentedbody - which term I have also introduced into our horrccforthlink the I to socially elaboratedsituations. systemof theoreticalreferences - usually manifestsitself in dreamswhen It is this moment that decisively tips the whole of human knowledge the movement of the analysis encountersa certain level of aggressive Into mcdiatizationthrough the desireof the other, constitutesits obiects disintegrationin the individual. It then appearsin the form of disjointed ln lrt abstractequivalence by the co-operation of others, and turns the I limbs, or of those organs representedin exoscopy,erowing wings and Ittto that apparatus for which every instinctual thrust constitutes a taking up armsfor intestinalpersecutions - the very sAmcrlrar the vision- drltg,'r, cvcn though it should correspondto a natural maturation- the ary HieronymusBosch has fixed, for all timc, in puinrinll,irr rlrcirascenr vrry norrturlizati<-rnof this maturation being henceforth dependent,in 6 Ecrits: A Selection The mirror stage a man, on cultural mediation as exemplified,in the caseof the sexual rePresentsthe patent form of that function, its effectswill, for the most object, by the Oedipus complex. palt, remain latent, so long as they are not illuminated by some light In the light of this conception,the term primary narcissism,by which reflectedon to the level of fatality, which is where the id manifestsitself. 'W'e analytic doctrine designatesthe libidinal investmentcharacteristic of that can thus understandthe inertia characteristicof the formations of momentr revealsin those who invented it the most profound /, awareness th. and find there the most extensivedefinition of neurosis- iust as the of semanticlatencies. But it also throws light on the dynamic opposition captationof the subiectby the situation gives us the mosr generalformula between this libido and the sexual libido, which the first analysti-tried to for madness,not only the madnessthat lies behind the *illt of asylums, define when they invoked destructive and, indeed, death instincts, in but also the madnessthat deafensthe world with its sbund and fury. order to explain the evident connection between the narcissisticlibido The sufferingsof neurosisand psychosisare for us a schooling in the and the alienating function of the f, the aggressivity it releasesin any passionsof the soul, just as the beam of the psychoanalyticscales, when relation to the other, even in a relation involving the most Samaritatrof we calculatethe tilt of its threat to entire communities,provides us with aid. an indication of the deadeningof the passionsin society. In fact, they were encountering that existential negativity whose At this iunction of nature and culture, so persistently examined by reality is so vigorously proclaimed by the conremporary philoiophy of modern anthropology, psychoanalysisalone recognizes this knot of being and nothingness. imaginary servitude that love must always undo again,or sever. But unfortunately that philosophy grasps negativiry only within the For such a task, we placeno trust in altruistic feeling,we who lay bare limits of a self-sufficiencyof consciousness,which, as one ofits premises, the aggressivity that underlies the activity of the philanthropist, the links to the miconnaisEanceEthat constitute the ego, the illusion of auto- ldealist,the pedagogue,and even the reformer. nomy to which it entrusts itself. This flight of fancy, for all that it draws, In the recourseof subiect to subjed that we preserve,psychoanalysis to an unusual extent, on borrowings from psychoanalytic experience, may accompanythe patientto the ecstaticlimit of the'Thou art that'rin culminatesin the pretention of providing an ixistential psychoanalysis. which is revealedto him the cipher of his mortal destiny, but it is not in At the culmination of the historical effort of a society to refuse to our mere Power as practitioners to bring him to that point where the recognizethat it has any function other than the utilitarian one, and in rcal iourney begins. the anxiety of the individual confronting the 'concenrrational'a form of the socialbond that seemsto ariseto crown this effort, existentialismmust lx{ be iudged by the explanationsit gives of the subiective impassesthar Notes have indeed resultedfrom it; a freedom that is never more authentic than r. Throughout this articleI leavein its an when it is within the walls of a prison; a demandfor commitment, 4.'Concentrationnaire', adjective express- pcculiaritythe translationI have adopted coined after'World War II (this article ing the impotence of a pure consciousnessto master any situation; a lot Freud's ldeat-Ich [i."., 'je-id6al'], was writtenin ry49) to describethe life of voyeuristic-sadistic idealizationof the sexualrelation; a personality that rithout further comment, other than to the concentration-camp. In the hands of ly that I have not maintainedit since. certain realizesitself only in suicide; a consciousnessof the other than writers it became, by extension, can be z. Cf. ClaudeLdvi-Strauss, Strucrural applicable to many aspects of 'modern' satisfiedonly by Hegelian murder. lnthropology, Chapter X. life [Tr.]. These propositions are opposed by all our experience,in so far as it ,. Cf.'Aggressivity in Psychoanalysis', p. 8 and Ecrits, teachesus not to regard the ego as centred on theperception-consciousness p. r8o. system)or as organizedby the'reality principle' -a principle that is the expressionof a scientificprejudice most hostile to rhe dialeitic of know- ledge. Our experience shows that we should srart instead from the function of miconnaissancethat characterizesthe ego in all irs structures, so markedly articulated by Miss Anna Freud. For, if the Verneinung