ABSTRACT
This chapter elucidates Jacques Lacan’s discussion of phobia and fetishism in Seminar IV: The Object Relation by differentiating the function of the phobic object with that of the fetish object. In Lacan’s fourth seminar, he substantially reinterprets Freud’s Oedipus complex through speaking about the role of the imaginary phallus and de-emphasizing the role of the biological organ of the penis. What is more, Lacan speaks of the operation of the paternal metaphor in the Oedipus complex, whereby the Name-of-the-Father stands in for the mother’s desire and allows the child to separate from her desire. It is through this revisioning of the Oedipal process that Lacan situates the phobic and fetish objects as differing solutions to the problems associated with the Other’s desire. In this light, the phobic object is a phallic signifier that functions to name the Other’s desire and enable a transition to neurotic-order subjectivity. In contrast, the fetish object functions as a fragile Name-of-the-Father, allowing the child to become a subject, but a perverse one who is restricted by having been unable to find a signifier for the mother’s desire. The fetish object is an image projected onto a veil that hides the mOther’s lack in being.
