ABSTRACT
Attempting to systemize psychoanalysis, Lacan frequently expresses his theories in quasi-mathematical formulations-mathemes. These mathemes can be mystifying.1 The mathemes relevant to the four discourses, however, reveal a single shared structure vividly illustrating the relationships between and among them: one discourse can be positioned to critique another, and how one discourse can or cannot speak or listen to another directly. Specifically, they reveal how one discourse can be the other side (l’envers) of another.
