‌‌‌‌　　英：superego; 法：surmoi; 德：Uber-Ich

‌‌‌‌　　“超我”这一术语直到相当晚期的时候才出现在弗洛伊德的著作之中，它被首度引入《自我与它我》(Freud, 1923b)中。正是在这部著作里，弗洛伊德引入了他所谓的“结构模型”(structuralmodel), 在此模型中，精神被划分成了三个机构 (agencies),即自我 (EGO)、它我 (D)与超我。然而，对自我进行评判和遣责的此种道德机构的概念，早在弗洛伊德把这些功能定位于超我之前，就已出现在他的著作中，诸如在审查机制 (censorship)的概念当中。

‌‌‌‌　　拉康有关超我的首次讨论，出现在他论及家庭的一篇文章里 (Lacan, 1938)。在其中，他在超我与自我理想 (EGO-DEAL)之间做出了明确的区分，而弗洛伊德在《自我与它我》中似乎都是交替使用这些术语的。拉康认为，超我的首要功能即在于压抑针对母亲的性欲望，以便消解俄狄浦斯情结。他遵循弗洛伊德的观点指出，超我产生自对于父亲的俄狄浦斯式认同，但是他也同样参考了梅兰妮·克莱因有关超我的一种古老形式是有其母性根源的论题 (Lacan, 1938:59-60).

‌‌‌‌　　当拉康在其1953一1954年度的研讨班上重返超我的主题的时候，他将其定位于象征秩序，与自我的想象秩序相对立：“超我在本质上是被定位在言语的象征性层面之中的。”(S1,102)超我与法则 (Law)具有一种密切的关系，但是此种关系是一种悖论性的关系。一方面，法则 (Lw)本身是一种象征性的结构，它规制着主体性并在此意义上防止着主体性的崩解。另一方面，超我的法则却具有某种“无意义的、盲目的特征，带有纯粹的律令性和简单的暴虐性”(S1,102)。因而，超我便同时既是法则又是对于法则的破坏 (S1,102)。超我产生自对于法则的误解，产生自象征链条上的那些缺口，并且以扭曲法则的某种想象性的替代物来填补那些缺口（见：E, 143; 亦见拉康关于审查机制的一则几乎相同的评论：“审查机制始终都关系因为没有得到理解而在话语中被联系于法则的事物”—S2,127).

‌‌‌‌　　我们可以更加明确地用语言学的术语来说，“超我是一种命令式”(S1,102)。在1962年，拉康指出，这项命令无非就是康德式的绝对律令 (categorical imperative)。它所涉及的特殊律令即“享乐吧！”这一命令，超我是大他者，因为正是大他者在命令主体去享乐。超我因而是享乐意志 (英：wil-to-enjoy; 法：volonte dejouissance)的表达，享乐意志并非主体自身的意志，而是采取了萨德式“至上的邪恶存在”(Supreme Being-in-Evil)的形式的大他者的意志 (Ec, 773)。超我是一种“淫秽的、残忍的角色”(E, 256), 它会把“一种无意义的、毁灭性的、纯粹压迫性的、几乎总是反对法律的道德”强加在神经症主体的身上(S1,102)。超我与声音有关，且因而联系着祈灵冲动(invoking drive)与施虐狂/受虐狂（SADISM/MASOCHISM)。

‌‌‌‌　　(surmoi) The term 'superego'does not appear until quite late in Freud's work, being firstintroduced in The Ego and the Id (Freud, 1923b). It was in this work that Freudintroduced his so-called 'structural model', in which the psyche is divided into threeagencies; the EGO, the ID and the superego. However, the concept of a moral agencywhich judges and censures the ego can be found in Freud's work long before he locatesthese functions in the superego, such as in his concept of censorship.

‌‌‌‌　　Lacan's first discussion of the superego comes in his article on the family (Lacan, 1938). In this work he distinguishes clearly between the superego and the EGO-IDEALterms which Freud seems to use interchangeably in The Ego and the Id. He argues thatthe primary function of the superego is to repress sexual desire for the mother in theresolution of the Oedipus complex. Following Freud, he argues that the superego resultsfrom Oedipal identification with the father, but he also refers to Melanie Klein's thesis onthe matemal origins of an archaic form of the superego (Lacan, 1938:59-60).

‌‌‌‌　　When Lacan returns to the subject of the superego in his 1953-4 seminar, he locates itin the symbolic order, as opposed to the imaginary order of the ego: 'the superego isessentially located within the symbolic plane of speech' (S1,102). The superego has aclose relationship with the Law, but this relationship is a paradoxical one. On the onehand, the Law as such is a symbolic structure which regulates subjectivity and in thissense prevents disintegration. On the other hand, the law of the superego has a 'senseless, blind character, of pure imperativeness and simple tyranny' (S1,102). Thus 'the superegois at one and the same time the law and its destruction' (S1,102). The superego arisesfrom the misunderstanding of the law, from the gaps in the symbolic chain, and fills outthose gaps with an imaginary substitute that distorts the law (see E, 143; see Lacan'salmost identical remarks on the censorship: 'Censorship is always related to whatever, indiscourse, is linked to the law in so far as it is not understood'-S2,127).

‌‌‌‌　　More specifically,in linguistic terms,the superego is an imperative'(S1,102).In1962,Lacan argues that this is none other than the Kantian categorical imperative.Thespecific imperative involved is the command Enjoy!';the superego is the Other insofaras the Other commands the subject to enjoy.The superego is thus the expression of thewill-to-enjoy (volonte de jouissance),which is not the subject's own will but the will ofthe Other,who assumes the form of Sade's 'Supreme Being-in-Evil'(Ec,773).Thesuperego is an 'obscene,ferocious Figure'(E,256)which imposes a senseless,destructive,purely oppressive,almost always anti-legal morality'on the neurotic subject(S1,102).The superego is related to the voice,and thus to the invoking drive and to SADISM/MASOCHISM.