ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with a reminder of the function of identifications, which is to compensate for the subject’s lack of identity, and continues to discuss Lacan’s graph of desire where this function can be demonstrated.
It shows that the graph knots together the symbolic and imaginary registers in a hierarchical order, according to Lacan’s thesis at the time: the imaginary is subordinated to the symbolic.
It then discusses the first two identifications inscribed in the graph: the imaginary identification of the ego with the image of the semblable and the primary symbolic identification, I(A), with a trait of the Other. Both identifications are shown to be dependent on the encounter of the subject with the chain of the first demand of the primordial Other.
The chapter then discusses the third imaginary identification with the object of the fantasy, which is “forged” by the subject following the encounter with the enigma of desire in the Other, beyond the chain of the demand, and assures a fixed, although imaginary identity, as an object in relation to the Other’s desire.
This identification closes, according to Lacan, the “imaginary path” on the graph. It is imaginary since desire and the fantasy that sustains it are placed as the signified of the unconscious chain, in accordance with the hypothesis of the subordination of the imaginary to the symbolic.
