Excess has dual role:
– make it possible for the subject to become meaninful to others, for all meaning depends upon the opening of a space of signification from the “realtight” by way of the extimate cause.
However the price to be paid for becoming this excessive dimension prevents any final determination of the subject, fating it to remain uncertain of its place among others.
The excess sticking to subjects is like a handle by which subjects can “grasp” each other but it is also a barrier preventing them from knowing what it is that they are grasping. What makes it possible for subjects to recognize each other as subjects is precisely what keeps them apart. … “the only social relation is the relation of nonrelation.” (44)