On the symbolic Other (2 of 4) : A second degree of otherness

We introduce a series of examples - from bug collecting, “look at you“ comments and Napoleon’s Column in Paris - to further illustrate Lacan’s idea of the big Other. We connect the idea to Erving Goffman’s ideas of the presentation of self (asking, again: who are such performances for?) and emphasize that the Other is not, strictly speaking, a psychological concept inasmuch as it cannot be collapsed into the imaginary (or ego) individuality of the subject. Important also is the idea of the Other as ’treasury of signifiers’, that is, the idea of symbolic Other as language itself, as the mOther tongue that we are obliged to use of even when formulating our most private and intimate thoughts. Thinking of language as mOther tongue emphasizes that our verbal formulations are never simply our own but remain always freighted with Other possible significations and implications beyond what out egos intend. We end by asking: is the big Other ’inside’ or ’outside’, a tri