
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sūbiectus, from past participle of sūbicere, to subject : sub-, sub- + iacere, to throw.]
subjection sub·jec'tion (səb-jĕk'shən) n.SYNONYMS subject, matter, topic, theme. These nouns denote the principal idea or point of a speech, a piece of writing, or an artistic work. Subject is the most general: "Well, honor is the subject of my story" (Shakespeare). Matter refers to the material that is the object of thought or discourse: "This distinction seems to me to go to the root of the matter" (William James). A topic is a subject of discussion, argument, or conversation: "They would talk of . . . fashionable topics, such as pictures, taste, Shakespeare" (Oliver Goldsmith). Theme refers especially to an idea, a point of view, or a perception that is developed and expanded on in a work of art: "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme" (Herman Melville). See also synonyms at citizen, dependent.
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| Subject Quote, Subject to Opinion |
| Subject Property, Subdivision Regulations | |
| Subject to Mortgage, Subjective Value |
adjective
noun
verb
Definition: at the mercy of; answerable
Antonyms: master
n
Definition: person or thing that is submitting
Antonyms: master
A theme on which a composition is based. In Fugue the term may refer to the main theme in general, or it may distinguish its initial form from that of the Answer that follows. In Sonata form the term is used for each of the two principal themes or groups of themes in the exposition.
The term ‘subject group’ is often used for each of the two sections that make up the exposition of a movement in sonata form, implying several musical ideas defined by function rather than their nature as themes.
Unable to separate the term subject from the notion of consciousness, Freud placed it in opposition to the external world or the object, or in their reciprocal reversal (1915e). In "New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis" (1933a [1932]) Freud said the ego was "in its proper sense a subject" (p. 58)—not as an essence, but a function to be filled.
Jacques Lacan (1966) changed this by referring to the subject as "the subject of the unconscious" in its "unwitting" dimension, its ex-centricity in relation to itself. The subject is the "it" that the "I" speaks of when the I wishes to refer to itself as unconscious. Or rather, the subject is this very split between the "I" and the "it." The ego, for its part, is not the "I": a precipitate of identifications, it becomes the locus of misapprehension. How, then, is it possible for "the subject to recognize and name his desire"? The answer is that the truth speaks, even if the words spoken convey both the lie of desire and its truth, and even if "the I that speaks is not the same as the I that is spoken."
The Other gives language its sense and the subject is an effect of that sense. The subject of the unconscious is "the subject represented by a signifier for another signifier," and the only important thing is the degree of difference between the two signifiers. The Imaginary also enters into its determination through that which is imagined about the object a, the only object that can be transferred for transference into the place occupied by phallic lack. Thus, "the truth that the I of the unconscious tells us is that only this nothingness sustains it."
Accordingly, for Lacan, the aim of treatment was not to fill this gaping nothingness, but to manifest it and potentially to express it through sublimation . . . or by training psychoanalysts. He emphasized that the kind of listening that took place in analysis often took wrong turns, and thus attempted, in his last years, to reequilibrate his system, notably by using the topological figure of the Borromean knot, to give "consistency" to the Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary: "The subject is what is determined by the figure in question: Not that he is in any sense its double, the subject is conditioned by the points at which the knot catches and tightens in these points."
The Lacanian subject is thus very different from the one based on Freudian metapsychology. Lacan's approach upends the theory of subjectivity by making the subject the subject of the drives, who sometimes directs them and at times is directed by them.
This subject is alien to itself, split between the Self and itself, though there is a constant reciprocity of relations between the mind's agencies, and reversibility of the economic and dynamic transformations within the personality as a whole. Among the various modalities of representance, representation appears as the bridge or articulation between the economic dimension and that of meaning, the product of work whose conscious or unconscious quality constitutes modalities that are more or less contingent or necessary, depending on the case, within the figure of tension that is desire.
If, for Freud, the lifting of repression produced conscious awareness, today the emphasis has shifted onto whether or not a new, "subjectivable" meaning can possibly emerge, be assumed by the subject, and through the effects of deferred action [après coup] that constitute psychic reality, itself become a function of both internal constraints and effects of the psychic reality of the object. Piera Aulagnier's "I," the study of the originating conditions of the process of subjectification (Cahn), and the related Aufhebung (sublation, supersession) illuminated by the notion of transitionality (Roussillon) are new approaches centered on the internal and external elements at stake in the splittings and exclusions that oppose this subjective appropriation. Here, in contrast to the problematics of neurosis, where the work of analysand naturally predominates, it is the work of the analyst that is revealed to be determinant, to contain that work, absorb it, and connect its productions.
Bibliography
Aulagnier, Piera. (2001). The violence of interpretation: From pictogram to statement (Alan Sheridan, Trans.). Hove, East Sussex, and Philadelphia: Brunner Routledg. (Original work published 1975)
Cahn, Raymond. (1991). Du sujet. Revue française de psychanalySE, 55, 5-6, 1371-1490.
Freud, Sigmund. (1915e). The unconscious. SE, 14: 159-204.
——. (1933a [1932]). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. SE, 22: 1-182.
——. (1940a). An outline of psycho-analysis. SE, 23: 139-207.
Lacan, Jacques. (1977).Écrits: A selection Alan Sheridan, Trans.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1966).
Roussillon, René. (1995). La métapsychologie des processus et la transitionnalité. Revue française de psychanalyse, LIX.
Further Reading
Ogden, Thomas. (1994). Subjects of analysis. Northvale, NJ: Aronson, Inc.
Renik, Owen. (1998). The analyst's subjectivity and the analyst's objectivity. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 79, 487-498.
Smith, Henry. (1999). Subjectivity and objectivity in analytic listening. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 47, 465-484.
—RAYMOND CAHN
A part of every sentence. The subject tells what the sentence is about; it contains the main noun or noun phrase: “The car crashed into the railing”; “Judy and two of her friends were elected to the National Honor Society.” In some cases the subject is implied: you is the implied subject in “Get me some orange juice.” (Compare predicate.)
They devised a scheme for the subjection of the rebels.
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An animal subjected to treatment, observation or experiment.
The people, animals, or events selected for study to examine a particular variable or condition, such as the effects of a new medication or treatment.

| Look up subject in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Subject (Latin subiectus "lying beneath") may refer to:
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Contents
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A subject is an individual subjected to the rule by an elite, see feudalism
Subject as a title or proper noun
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - emne, undersåt, genstand, tema, motiv, fag, subjekt, statsborger, patient
adj. - underlagt, underkastet, undergiven, undertvungen, udsat for, under forudsætning af
adv. - under forudsætning af
v. tr. - undertvinge, underkaste, udsætte for, gøre til genstand for
idioms:
Nederlands (Dutch)
onderwerp, vak, proefpersoon/ -object, onderdaan, onderwerpen, afhankelijk
Français (French)
n. - sujet, matière, (Art, Phot) sujet, (Sci) sujet, objet, (Ling) sujet, citoyen
adj. - asservi, sujet (à), soumis, passible (de), dépendant
adv. - sujet à
v. tr. - faire subir qch à qn, faire l'objet de, être soumis à, assujettir
idioms:
Deutsch (German)
n. - Staatsbürger, Untertan, Thema, Subjekt, Patient, Fach
v. - unterwerfen
adj. - abhängig, untergeben, unterworfen
adv. - dienstbar
idioms:
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - θέμα, προκείμενο, υπήκοος, πολίτης, υποτελής, αντικείμενο διδασκαλίας, υποκείμενο, ζήτημα, ασθενής (ως περίπτωση), (γραμμ.) υποκείμενο
v. - (καθ)υποτάσσω, εκθέτω σε, υποβάλλω σε
adj. - υπεξούσιος, υποτελής, ρέπων (προς), εκτεθειμένος σε, εξαρτημένος από
idioms:
Italiano (Italian)
assoggettare, materia, suddito, argomento, soggetto, esemplare, tema, dipendente
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
n. - sujeito (m), assunto (m)
v. - sujeitar
adj. - sujeito
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
предмет, тема, дисциплина, объект, повод, подданый, субъект, человек, подлежащее, подчиненный, подверженный, подлежащий (чему-л.), подчинять, подвергать, представлять
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
n. - súbdito, asunto, tema, sujeto, asignatura, materia, disciplina, motivo, objeto, dependiente, vasallo, razón, ocasión
adj. - dependiente, sujeto, sometido, dominado, supeditado, obediente, sumiso, expuesto, propenso, vasallo
adv. - estudios, motivo, obedientemente
v. tr. - someter, sojuzgar, dominar, supeditar, sujetar, subordinar
idioms:
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - undersåte, medborgare, ämne, motiv, tema, föremål, patient
v. - underkuva, betvinga, undertrycka, utsätta, prisge, låta undergå
adj. - underlydande, underkuvad, lyd-, beroende av
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
题目, 科目, 主题, 受他国统治的, 受制于...的, 未独立的, 在...条件下, 使隶属, 使受到
idioms:
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 題目, 科目, 主題
adj. - 受他國統治的, 受制於...的, 未獨立的
adv. - 在...條件下
v. tr. - 使隸屬, 使受到
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 주제, 당면 과제, 국민
adj. - 지배를 받는, 복종하는, ~하기위해 ~을 필요로 하는
adv. - 지배를 받게, 받기 쉽게
v. tr. - 복종시키다, (병에) 잘 걸리다, 맡기다
idioms:
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 主題, 科目, 学科, 主語, 臣民, 国民, 臣下, 被験者, 原因, 対象
adj. - 服従する, 支配される, 受けやすい, かかりやすい, 必要とする
v. - 従属させる, 経験させる, さらす
idioms:
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) موضوع, مادة تعليميه, رعيه, مواطن (فعل) أخضع (صفه) خاضع ل, عرضه ل, قابل ل, بشرط
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - נתין, אזרח, חומר, נושא, עניין, מקצוע, ענף מחקר, הגלם, חיית-ניסוי, אדם, ישות חשה, מוטיב (מוסיקה), נושא (תחביר), ההכרה, ה"אני", עיקרו של דבר בנפרד מתכונותיו
adj. - כפוף, נשלט, נוטה, מותנה
adv. - בכפוף ל-, בתנאי ש-
v. tr. - הכניע, השתלט על, חשף, העביר, גרם חוויה ל-, כפף
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