Dingpolitik & Lacanian Sexuation

Abstract

The traditional Lacanian formulae of sexuation begins from the subject’s relation to the phallic function. According to adherents of this position, all subjects–whether masculine or feminine–are in some relation, as a precondition for their admittance into language, to the phallus as signifier. It is possible to introduce an alternative function, the ding function. It is by assuming the dimension of things-as-things that we can transform the formulae of sexuation without subverting the overall lessons of sexuation. This is revolutionary in the psychoanalytic understanding of sexuation. Whereas the traditional model emphasized the dimension of subjects without the dimension of things (things qua things), the new model emphasizes the co-existing of things and subjects. In my presentation I will focus on the formulae, the methodology for constructing the new formulae, its proper interpretation, and on the implications for the understanding its place within Lacanian dogmata.

Traditional Lacanian Formula:

Masculine FemininexΦx∀ x∀ Φx

x∃ Φx xΦx∃

New Formulae:

Things & Subjects Subjects without Things

xΦx∃ DΦD∃ D∀ ΦD x∀ Φx

D∃ ΦD x∃ Φx xΦx∀ DΦD∀