The symbolic third, a tool to connect
The symbolic third is a concept that may seem very abstract, but for me it is very effective in creating a constructive link, especially between adults and youth. Here is a short synthesis of it, as I understand it.
- In psychoanalysis, to be is to be subject of one’s desire (in the broad sense of the term, desire to live, to learn, etc.).
- As opposed to being object, without desire, forced by someone else to do things. The other may be persuaded that “it’s for our own good,” by the way.
- We project our emotions, our assumptions, our past, our expectations, on the other (on young people, of course, but not only):
- This is called a dual relationship, or an object relationship: the other is the object of our projections.
- As we project onto the other, we are not in contact with the reality of the other, but only with our own projection.
- The link is therefore impossible.
- If we use a “symbolic third party” between us, it is on this third party that the mutual projections will be made (and not on the other):
- Thus, this symbolic third party will allow a relationship between two subjects, that is to say a link between two different realities.
- To give concrete examples, the symbolic third party can be :
- A shrink, on whom we will project our fears, frustrations, etc., which will allow us to return to normal relations with others. We rebuild our capacity to live with otherness, that is to say to be in reality.
- A film, a painting, a show... for which each one is autonomous, and we will discover the other not through our projections on him, but through what the other will have produced. As soon as he has his full and complete autonomy. It is therefore necessary to let go of the power, to trust, by giving the tool fully to the other.
- We have often heard teachers say to artistic contributors: "It’s incredible, thanks to your activity, I discovered this student in a different way! The art facilitator, but especially the object he or she offered to the students to create, acted as a symbolic third party, and re-established the relationship between teacher and student.
- A tool (camera, paintbrush, camera, theater stage, musical instrument...) that one gives to the other, with which he is autonomous, that he will appropriate in a completely different way than mine.
- The symbolic third party thus allows the link between two so different realities! It makes it possible to enter in relation. It makes it possible to be subject, in reality, by accepting that reality and the other escape us, and thus to be enriched in depth, while remaining oneself. This is true for oneself and for the other.
Epistemological note
To propose a concept that can be used as a pedagogical method, I’ve added the terms “third” and “symbolic”. One might object that this is a shortcut that misunderstands and misuses the depths of these two terms, each of which belongs to a vast and distinct theoretical field. In fact, in the context of human relations, it seems to me to be very useful to associate the third party with a symbolization function; for me, it is through this association that these theories become operative in terms of capacity for action. For me, it’s not a question of making things simplistic, but simply of applying them to the power to act in concrete situations (which doesn’t mean reducing them to this instrumentalization).
For a more in-depth look at these two subjects, their theories, histories and controversies, here are a few suggestions for further reading:
- Symbol formation in Melanie Klein.
- The essential third party in face-to-face psychoanalytic work, by Bernard Voizot (2005).
- Symbolization processes in psychic life, the creation of material images and technologies: identifications put to the test by the virtual, by Serge Tisseron (2021).
- “The imagined, the imaginary and the symbolic”, by Maurice Godelier (2015).
- The importance of symbol formation in the development of the ego, in “Essays in Psychoanalysis”, by Melanie Klein (1930).
- The child and the symbolic, by Marika Bergès-Bounes and Christian Rey (2007).
- “Theaters of the I” by Joyce McDougall (1982).
- “The Dominique case”, by Françoise Dolto (1971).
Here you will find educational tools, practical and conceptual. These tools are based on the experiences and thinking that I have been developing in a large number of contexts since the 1990s. I have developed a singular, operative pedagogical practice, inspired by Célestin Freinet’s methods among others, adapted to contemporary human issues and to the tools of the 21st Century.
Pedagogy is an experimental practice, which has its theories, its history and its thinkers. It is a central construction tool in the educational field but also beyond, in the framework of professional interactions or cultural mediation for example. Thus the usefulness of the methods and reflections you will find here goes beyond the context of teaching.
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