The ego, the person, the self, and the subject

pp. 79-98

in: Raul Moncayo, Knowing, not-knowing, and jouissance, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

The human subject is determined by the symbolic order and at the same time there is a dimension of the subject that is not determined by language and remains undetermined or acausal within the dimension of the Real. The subject of the Real appears as a hole within the symbolic structure that functions as an empty place/function (causality in the form of a gap). The empty place of the subject on the one hand explains the cultural determination of the subject, and at the same time provides an agency of social transformation without relying on the fiction of an ego or a master.