{"id":10623,"date":"2026-06-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10623"},"modified":"2025-12-14T15:51:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T15:51:36","slug":"looking-at-eric-santners-book-2016-the-weight-of-all-flesh-part-15-of-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10623","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Eric Santner\u2019s Book (2016)\u00a0The Weight of All Flesh\u00a0(Part 15 of 28)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0301 Taking these diagrams as interpretations, Lacan\u2019s petit objet a<\/em> correlates to the apparent element in the dyad of actuality<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0302 For the theory of the sublime body of the king, petit objet a<\/em> consists of supplements adorning the mortal body of the king<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king does not show up like some unvetted carpenter at a temple.  No, the mortal body to the king is arrayed in fine robes, wearing a metal hat full of jewels.  Plus, advisors surround the king, concocting doxologies about the king\u2019s glorious body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0303 For the theory of the commodity fetish<\/em>, petit objet a<\/em> consists of price<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any particular corporation, the sales price of what it produces <\/em>will vary considerably, depending on the capricious perceptions of the buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entire markets may turn quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To compensate, organizations advertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0304 What is advertising?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertising<\/em> attempts to generate perceived value<\/em>.  The advertising industry<\/em> strives to induce the commodity fetish<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0305 Management, production and service are so indebted to the enhanced perception of perceived value<\/em> that I have often heard engineers say, \u201cThe marketing department runs the business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0306 Here is one way to envision the role of advertising:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0307 Remember, an institution<\/em> puts the organization tier<\/em> into context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertising puts a product marketed by a corporation<\/em> into perspective.  It wraps the product in the mantle of righteousness.  It supplements the product with a purpose (objectorganization<\/sup>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0308 So, I return to petit objet a<\/em>.  It is really is a subject, a thing that we can encounter.  Petit objet a<\/em> is a subject (a piece of the Real) that supports an object<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0309 Lacan\u2019s objet petit a<\/em> corresponds to the mortal body of the king<\/em> (in one theory) and price<\/em> (in the other).  It is the apparent element in the dyad of actuality<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actuality belongs to the category of secondness.  Secondness consists of two contiguous elements.  The appearance of one element<\/em> is contiguous with the hidden presence of the other element<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0310 I hope this does not sound too much like Heidegger\u2019s impression of Greek philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how petit objet a<\/em> looks in the current discussion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0311 Price is the shocking piece of the Real<\/em> that we encounter at market.  The market, then, exhibits a normal context of discipline<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market discipline<\/em> is not the same as the discipline that contextualizes citizenMarat<\/sup><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0312 Market discipline is based on experience.  It contains rules, expressed in aphorisms such as \u201cLet the buyer beware.\u201d  It also implies control, especially self-control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0313 Does the price reflect my perceived valuation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question itself turns the buyer\u2019s attention away from the social machinations of the content-level<\/em> and towards clues, influenced by advertising, that this commodity is supplemented with an organizational objective<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0314 What does this imply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans value organizational objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0315 An advertised organizational objective<\/em> often answers the question, \u201cWhat does this commodity mean to me?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, it addresses the question, \u201cWhat does this commodity mean to everyone else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0316 So why does Santner bring up the word \u201cdebt\u201d at the end of section 2.2?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0317 Clearly, the word \u201cdebt\u201d means more than a financial arrangement similar to the one made between Shylock and Antonio<\/em> in The Merchant of Venice<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0318 Is it more like the sigh of relief<\/em> collectively released after Charlotte Corday plunged her once-concealed knife<\/em>superior to the clavicle of the en-bath-ulated tyrant-to-be Jean-Paul Marat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, she relieved the citizensregular<\/sup> of Marat\u2019s espousal of the organization objects belonging to his Friendship with the People<\/em>, such as \u201cmurder the political opponents of the Jacobins\u201d.  Unfortunately, Corday misjudged the importance of Marat.  He was just one of the contenders for regal citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0319 Is there a difference between the modern citizenMarat<\/sup><\/em> and the late medieval and early modern royal personage<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, the answer to this question is not clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, the implications of the word \u201cdebt\u201d becomes more obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0320 Santner\u2019s term, \u201cdebt\u201d, derives from the acknowledgment of an organizational object<\/em> as a situation-level value<\/em>,supplementing the realness of the situating petit objet a<\/em>.  This supplement<\/em> enhances a fetish that benefits the content-level, providing it with a clear orientation<\/em> and putting it in debt<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0321 For the late medieval and early modern world, doxologies to the sublime body of the king<\/em> enhanced the subject\u2019s self-perception as a participant in the kingdom<\/em>.  They provided a site for organizing the active soul of the individual <\/em>asa subject of the realm<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0322 Values<\/em> virtually situate objectsorg<\/sup><\/em>.  Organizational objects <\/em>occupy the active soul, <\/em>directly situating a potential for righteousness<\/em> that moves the passive soul<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0323 Both Lacanian and Marxist terminology<\/em> fit into the society-tier model of late medieval and early modern political theology<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0324 The same pattern fits the organization tier of the middle and late modern political economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0325 Two subtle questions now becomes a little more apparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0326 What is drawn upwards from debt<\/em> into fetish?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is drawn downwards from fetish<\/em> into debt?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0301 Taking these diagrams as interpretations, Lacan\u2019s petit objet a correlates to the apparent element in the dyad of actuality. 0302 For the theory of the sublime body of the king, petit objet a consists of supplements adorning the mortal body of the king.  The king does not show up like some unvetted carpenter at a temple.  No, the mortal body to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking at Eric Santner\u2019s Book (2016)\u00a0The Weight of All Flesh\u00a0(Part 15 of 28) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=10623\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking at Eric Santner\u2019s Book (2016)\u00a0The Weight of All Flesh\u00a0(Part 15 of 28) - 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