Abstract

GARCIA-ARROYO, José Manuel. The mirror stage: background and phenomenology. Rev. Asoc. Esp. Neuropsiq. [online]. 2022, vol.42, n.142, pp.29-47.  Epub Feb 20, 2023. ISSN 2340-2733.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/s0211-57352022000200003.

In this paper about the mirror stage of Lacan, we expose its background and then we analyze the complex phenomena that occur in it. Although the author showed his theory to the scientific community in 1936, there were already precedents that came from biology, ethology, psychology, philosophy, and even the culture at the time. Thus, this contribution extends the psychoanalytic field with content derived from other disciplines. The mirror stage shows how the child goes through structuring experiences when confronted with his reflection in the mirror, and anticipates his body unit. This image becomes the matrix of the ego, which thereafter will show an alienated and illusory destination. The body is the main protagonist of this process, since in this founding moment the child solves the serious problem of “bodily fragmentation” to achieve an image of "totality".

Keywords : the mirror stage; Jacques Lacan; fragmented body; specular image; imago; narcissism.

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