the big Other
E707184
The big Other is a central Lacanian psychoanalytic concept denoting the symbolic order of language, law, and social norms that structures subjectivity and desire.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| the big Other canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8058694 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: the big Other Context triple: [Jacques Lacan, notableIdea, the big Other]
-
A.
Anti-Oedipus
Anti-Oedipus is a seminal 1972 philosophical work by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari that critiques psychoanalysis and capitalism while introducing the concept of “desiring-production.”
-
B.
Oneself as Another
"Oneself as Another" is a major philosophical work by Paul Ricoeur that explores personal identity, selfhood, and ethics through the lens of narrative and hermeneutic phenomenology.
-
C.
Difference and Repetition
Difference and Repetition is a 1968 philosophical work by Gilles Deleuze that radically rethinks concepts of difference, repetition, identity, and time within the continental tradition.
-
D.
Promise of the Real
Promise of the Real is an American rock band led by Lukas Nelson, known for its roots-rock sound and frequent collaborations and touring with Neil Young.
-
E.
The Sublime Object of Ideology
The Sublime Object of Ideology is a 1989 philosophical work by Slavoj Žižek that applies Lacanian psychoanalysis to Marxist theory to explore how ideology structures subjectivity and social reality.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: the big Other Target entity description: The big Other is a central Lacanian psychoanalytic concept denoting the symbolic order of language, law, and social norms that structures subjectivity and desire.
-
A.
Anti-Oedipus
Anti-Oedipus is a seminal 1972 philosophical work by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari that critiques psychoanalysis and capitalism while introducing the concept of “desiring-production.”
-
B.
Oneself as Another
"Oneself as Another" is a major philosophical work by Paul Ricoeur that explores personal identity, selfhood, and ethics through the lens of narrative and hermeneutic phenomenology.
-
C.
Difference and Repetition
Difference and Repetition is a 1968 philosophical work by Gilles Deleuze that radically rethinks concepts of difference, repetition, identity, and time within the continental tradition.
-
D.
Promise of the Real
Promise of the Real is an American rock band led by Lukas Nelson, known for its roots-rock sound and frequent collaborations and touring with Neil Young.
-
E.
The Sublime Object of Ideology
The Sublime Object of Ideology is a 1989 philosophical work by Slavoj Žižek that applies Lacanian psychoanalysis to Marxist theory to explore how ideology structures subjectivity and social reality.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Lacanian concept
ⓘ
philosophical concept ⓘ psychoanalytic concept ⓘ |
| appearsIn |
Lacanian clinical theory
ⓘ
Lacanian seminars NERFINISHED ⓘ Lacanian structural theory of the subject ⓘ |
| associatedWith | Jacques Lacan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| belongsToRegister | Symbolic register ⓘ |
| characterizedAs |
impersonal symbolic structure
ⓘ
locus of the law ⓘ network of signifiers ⓘ place of the code of language ⓘ |
| contrastedWith | the small other ⓘ |
| coreIdea |
language
ⓘ
law ⓘ social norms ⓘ structure of desire ⓘ structure of subjectivity ⓘ symbolic authority ⓘ symbolic order ⓘ |
| defines | field of speech and language in which the subject is inscribed ⓘ |
| field |
continental philosophy
ⓘ
psychoanalysis ⓘ |
| function |
guarantee of meaning
ⓘ
locus of the signifier ⓘ place from which the subject is addressed ⓘ support of symbolic authority ⓘ |
| influenced |
Lacanian film theory
ⓘ
cultural studies ⓘ political theory ⓘ post-structuralist theory ⓘ |
| interpretedBy |
Alain Badiou
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Joan Copjec NERFINISHED ⓘ Slavoj Žižek NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| notIdenticalWith |
empirical individuals
ⓘ
imaginary ego ⓘ |
| ontologicalStatus | symbolic rather than empirical entity ⓘ |
| originatedBy | Jacques Lacan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| partOf | Lacanian triad of Real Imaginary Symbolic NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
Name-of-the-Father
ⓘ
desire ⓘ lack ⓘ law of the father ⓘ subject of the unconscious ⓘ symbolic castration ⓘ symbolic law ⓘ |
| roleInDesire | locus from which desire is articulated ⓘ |
| roleInSubjectFormation |
conditions possibility of subjectivity
ⓘ
pre-exists the subject ⓘ |
| theoreticalFramework | Lacanian psychoanalysis NERFINISHED ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: the big Other Description of subject: The big Other is a central Lacanian psychoanalytic concept denoting the symbolic order of language, law, and social norms that structures subjectivity and desire.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.