The Mirror Stage

Neill, C R

doi:10.4324/9781315622002-4

Cited by 1 publication

(5 citation statements)

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“…For instance, whilst Lacan informs us that the chimpanzee is at this point smarter than the infant, he does not tell us why, or how, this is, just that it is; nor how the infant, from this cognitively inferior state, can "nevertheless" apprehend something that the chimpanzee cannot. 41 That is, despite the fact that he lacks access to the minds of both, he infers the apparent difference of their mental states from their behaviours. However, given that both the animal and the human behave similarly, are allegedly cognitively lacking and unable to articulate their world in his terms, and thus in a way are symmetrically positioned, how would Lacan diagnose one as intelligent and one as intellectually lacking?…”

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

“…And yet curiously, it rests upon a comparison to an animal, and is without reference aside from that to the ethologist, Wolfgang Köhler. 11 However, some theorists suggest that the child/chimpanzee's response to self-reflection is derived more specifically from the work of child psychologist Henri Wallon. 12 Both Köhler and Wallon were influential psychologists in their own right who had written on chimpanzees and self-reflection.…”

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

“…What is curious is the question of how the human infant would be able to check to ensure there was not another child behind, within or beyond the mirror "sunk in his motor incapacity" as he is. 39 Whether Lacan literally means that the infant has some means of looking physically behind the mirror, as with a hand-held mirror or a hanging small mirror in a cot, is unclear. However, surely the baby's lolling back and forth, pressing up against the mirror, and constant fascination with the tactile sensation of the mirror could be interpreted as a means of "checking" the validity of this image, even if not physically capable of a more rigorous examination.…”

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To press this point further: Lacan confirms that the chimpanzee found its mirror image "empty". 44 But given Lacan's commitments, wouldn't the very concept of the mirror phase complicate the notion of reflection such that one could not speak in terms of an image or self-reflection ever "simply" being "just" an image?…”

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

“…46 The exercise is, then, a veritable obsession from which they fail to tire (so much so that Köhler had to stop his mirror studies as the chimpanzees would thieve the hand mirrors he used); we can recall the slightly obscure wording Lacan employs during his discussion of chimpanzees and the mirror image: "once the image has been mastered and found empty". 47 Arguably this refers to the process through which the chimpanzee comprehends the mirror, as reflection alone, and realises the emptiness of the image; empty, because the mirror does not conceal anything "behind" it, does not contain or portray another animal, but only reflects. 48 Certainly then, this passage provides the source evidence for some elements of Lacan's argument concerning the chimpanzee, however what he recounts and what he excludes from Köhler's account is significant.…”

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

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Testing Anthropocentrism: Lacan and the Animal Imago

Dalziell

2024

JFFP

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In an effort to complicate the human subject, this article considers the critical insights of psychoanalytic thinker Jacques Lacan, focusing in particular on his essay, “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I As Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience” (1949). ‘The Mirror Stage’ explains how we break from nature, differentiate ourselves from the animal and graduate from primordial subsistence as psychically folded into the first lightning strike of recognition that arrives with/as self-reflection. Curiously however, in sustaining his argument about the human specificity of the mirror stage phenomenon, Lacan relies upon ethological research on nonhuman self-recognition. This reliance of his argument on the figure of the animal has largely been interpreted in two ways: as an inconsequential detail, undeserving of theoretical exploration, or, as confirmation of Lacan’s self-evident anthropocentrism. For instance, Buse (2017) and Ziser (2007) have noted the significant discrepancies within ‘The Mirror Stage’ between Lacan’s understanding of primate self-recognition, and that of his main source, Wolfgang Köhler. Although, both thinkers hold the position that Lacan’s treatment of the animal in ‘The Mirror Stage’ provides sufficient textual evidence for a reading that endorses human exceptionalism. Departing from this prior research, I focus on these same textual irregularities within ‘The Mirror Stage,’ yet see something quite different taking place in these moments. In order to preserve the complexity of Lacanian material, in a detailed examination utilising close reading, I pick apart long passages of both Lacan and his sources and conclude that Lacan’s position on the animal is both ambivalent and ambiguous in character. This culminates in a lack of clarity regarding how to understand Lacan’s position on both the animal, and correlatively the human. In turn, acknowledging this uncertainty provides a novel way to approach this seminal text, and a justification to revise accusations of anthropocentrism, alongside dominant interpretations more broadly.

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Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Chimpanzeementioning

confidence: 99%