Subjectivity and Otherness A Philosophical Reading of Lacan

course continuously presupposes—into the actual reality of the unconscious.Unconscious
metonymy has therefore to be referred to the vertical/synchronic axis of lan-
guage; more specifically, it consists of a combinatory association by contiguity—and not
of a substitutive association by similarity, as in the case of metaphor—that is ulti-
mately linked to the conscious/diachronic/horizontal axis of speech at a specific point by a metaphoric
substitution—that is to say, by repression. Unlike the diachronic chain formed by
conscious metonymy, unconscious metonymy is continually fragmented and “re-
directed” by metaphor.^66 Hence, unconscious metonymy cannot constitute a
“straight” axis of speech perpendicular to conscious speech, another alternative
ego; on the contrary, it forms several overlapping unconscious signifying chains
(see schema 2. 3 ).^67 The unconscious is thus ruled by both metaphor andmeton-
ymy. Metonymy in the unconscious is based on the principle of combination but,
clearly, as Freud was already aware, the unconscious does notfollow the combina-
tive grammatical conventions of positive language; in fact it is atemporal, and
does not obey the law of noncontradiction. Conversely, it is impossible to justify

53

Schema 2.3

Conscious metonymy

AB

B1

B2

B3

B4 Z Z1

CD

unconscious

metaphor—

new

repression

unconscious

metonymy

unconscious metaphor—

repression stricto sensu

unconscious metonymy

as above

as above