Master signifier

This is what Lacan aims at in his persistent reference to the torus and other variations of Mobius-strip-like structures in which the relationship between inside and outside is inverted if we want to grasp the minimal structure of subjectivity, the clear-cut opposition between inner subjective experience and outer objective reality is not sufficient—there is an excess on both sides. On the one hand, we should accept the lesson of Kant s transcendental idealism out of the confused multitude of impressions, objective reality emerges through the intervention of the subject s transcendental act. In other words, Kant does not deny the distinction between the multitude of subjective impressions and objective reality his point is merely that this very distinction results from the intervention of a subjective gesture of transcendental constitution. In a homologous way, Lacan s Master Signifier is the subjective signifying feature which sustains the very objective symbolic structure if we ab-... 

Furthermore, what this means is that one should leave behind the standard notion of the One (in all its different guises, up to the Master Signifier) as a secondary totalization of the primordially dispersed in-... 

Lacan is here a radical Hegelian (unknown to himself, no doubt) there is multiplicity because the One doesn t coincide with itself. One can see, now, in what precise sense one is to conceive of Lacan s thesis according to which what is primordially repressed is the binary signifier (that of Vorstellungsreprdsentanz) what the symbolic order precludes is the full harmonious presence of the couple of Master signifiers, as yin-yang or any other two symmetrical fundamental principles. The fact that there is no sexual relationship means precisely that the secondary signifier (that of the Woman) is primordially repressed, and what we get in the place of this repression, what fills in its gap, is the multitude of the returns... 

When constructing a master curve, one arbitrarily picks a reference temperature, T0. (Instead of T0, many authors choose to use Tr to signify the reference temperature.) The modulus at any time t, which one would observe at the temperature T0 in terms of the experimentally observed modulus values at different temperatures T, is therefore given as... 

A clear and complete (or appropriately abridged) copy of the Master Formula and Processing Instructions should be made for each batch of a product before it is processed. Transcription from the master documents should be by photocopying or computer printout and each document should be initialled by a competent person before issue to signify that it is complete, legible and appropriate. 

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