Paternity and Name

Light of Truth

“For as the father has no biological certainty of his paternity, the child has no immediate and direct proof of his filiation; he must accept it, on the faith of the father, following the symbolic argument of his being recognized by him. This is in fact translated by adopting the father’s name as collateral for his own adoption by the father. Therefore, the child bears – as a heavy bur-den and a tiresome yoke – a name that is not his. That name […] comes upon him as a fait accompli always already done for and without him, indeed counter to him.”

Marion, Being Given

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