Talk:Objet petit a

Definition

There's signifiers. But some things cannot be symbolized with 'em. That's all there is to it. Save yourself a Ph.D.

Wouldn't it just help to explain the translation: call it "small-o other"?

Cleanup

How does the article need to be cleaned up? Hyacinth 02:53, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Removed. See below. Hyacinth 00:06, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Insufficient context and Not been verified

Any part which is particularly unclear without context? What parts need to be verified and why? Hyacinth 00:06, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Misquote in intro paragraph?

The sentence "Lacan always insisted that the term should remain untranslated, "thus acquiring the status of an algebraic sign" (Écrits)." is (possibly) a misquote, or at least is not from the Écrits. The closest original passage from the Écrits (s. 279) reads

Identified with sacred hau or omnipresent mana, the inviolable Debt is the guarantee that the voyage on which women and goods are sent will bring back to their point of departure, in a never-failing cycle, other women and other goods, all bearing an identical entity: what Levi-Strauss calls a "zero-symbol," thus reducing the power of Speech to the form of an algebraic sign.

To the best of my knowledge, the objet petit a is not even directly discussed (in those terms) within the Écrits - but maybe I'm missing something in the English translation Fakedaen (talk) 05:18, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Edit: the original quote stems from Alan Sheridan's translation of Écrits: A Selection (I was originally checking the Fink version); I have updated the article accordingly. Fakedaen (talk) 06:02, 12 February 2026 (UTC)