The Lacanian Unconscious (4 of 4): The signifying chain

One conceptual leap required by Lacan’s notion of the unconscious is the idea that agency applies not most fundamentally to the ego but to the symbolic. Language, signifiers, have agency, they speak through us, they insist, they have momentum. We consider how the unfolding of speech over time involves just such a moment via the example of predicative texts. The notion of the ’signifying chain’ alerts us to this agency within language. We briefly examine the idea of symbolic efficacy and the related idea that although I may not subjective believe, there may be a structure of believing of which I am a part. Link to board: