<center>{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" align="center" style="border:1px solid #aaaaaa;text-align:center;margin:6px -8px;align:center;vertical-align:top;width:90%;background-color:#fcfcfc"|style="text-align:center;color:#000;line-height:2em;width:100%;";|This article is currently undergoing major editing. It's a mess [[right]] now, but will be fixed soon.|}</center>{{TopTopppp}}désir]]''|-|| [[German]]: ''[[Wunsch{{Bottom}}
The concept of [[desire]] is at the center of [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalysis]] as a [[theoretical]], [[ethical]] and [[clinical]] point of reference. Theoretically, Lacan's elaboration of the [[concept]] is supported by, yet goes beyond, its [[Freudian]] origins. From an ethical perspective, Lacan has examined in an original way the [[relationship]] between desire and the [[law]], and its implications for [[treatment|psychoanalytic praxis]].
<!-- he concept of [[desire]] is the central concern of [[psychoanalytic theory]]. -->
==Sigmund Freud==<!--[[DesireFreud]] 's ''[[Interpretation of Dreams]]'' established the basis for the psychoanalytic conception of desire (including Lacan's own contributions), even if the Freudian ''[[Wunsch]]'' (translated as 'wish' in the ''[[Standard Edition]]'') does not exactly coincide with Lacan's desire.<ref>(Lacan, 1977 [1959], pp. 256-7)</ref>-->[[Lacan]]'s term, ''[[désir]]'', is the term used in the [[French]] translations of [[Freud]] to translate [[Freud]]'s term ''[[Wunsch]]'', which is translated as "[[wish]]" in the ''[[Standard Edition]]''. <!-- Hence English translators of [[Lacan]] are faced with a major dilemma; should they translate ''[[désir]]'' by "[[wish]]", which is closer to [[Freud]]'s ''[[Wunsch]]'', or should they translate it as "[[desire]]", which is closer to the [[French]] term, but which [[lacks]] the allusion to [[Freud]]? All of [[Lacan]]'s [[English]] translators have opted for the latter, since the [[English]] term "[[desire]]" conveys, like the [[French]] term, the implication of a ''continuous force'', which is essential to [[Lacan]]'s concept. The [[English]] term also carries with it the same allusions to [[Hegel]]'s ''[[Begierde]]'' as are carried by the [[French]] term, and thus retains the [[philosophical]] nuances which are so essential to [[Lacan]]'s concept of ''[[psychoanalytic theorydésir]]'' and which make it "a [[category]] far wider and more abstract than any employed by [[Freud]]himself." -->
By shifting the object of study from the imagery of the [[manifest]] [[content]] of the [[dream]] to its unconscious determinants in the dreaming subject, Freud unveiled the [[structure]] of both the dream and [[The concept Subject|the subject]]. Beyond the [[preconscious]] wishes attached to a [[number]] of desirable [[desireobjects]] is that the central concern dream-[[work]] utilizes, there lies the unconscious wish — indestructible, [[infantile]] in its origins, the product of [[psychoanalytic theoryrepression]], permanently insisting in reaching fulfilment through the dream and the other [[formations]]of the unconscious.
If there is any one concept which can claim The indestructibility that Freud attributes to ve the very center unconscious wish is a property of its [[structural]] [[position]]: it is the necessary, not [[Lacancontingent]], effect of a fundamental gap in the subject's thought, it is [[psyche]]; the gap [[left]] by a lost satisfaction (cf. the concept seventh chapter of The [[desireInterpretation]]of [[Dreams]]; Freud, 1953, pp. 509-621).
Such a structural gap in the subject is of a [[sexual]] [[order]]; it corresponds ultimately to a [[loss]] of sexual jouissance due to the fact of the [[prohibition]] to which [[sexuality]] is subjected in the human [[being]]. This prohibition is a structural [[cultural]] [[necessity]], not a [[contingency]], and its [[subjective]] correlate is the [[Oedipus]] [[complex]] — which is a [[normative]] organization, rather than a more or less typical set of [[psychological]] manifestations.
==Human Desire==The [[Lacanmodel]] follows of the unconscious wish elucidated by Freud in his monumental work [[On Dreams|on dreams]] remained his [[guide]] for the rest of his theoretical and clinical production; in pa rticular, it continued to inform, until the end, Freud's clinical interventions — [[Spinozainterpretations]] and constructions in arguing that "analysis — and his rationale for [[desirethem]]" . This model is inseparable from the [[form]] of [[discourse]] that Freud created: the essence rule of manfree [[association]], the subject's speech, reveals his/her desire and the essential gap that constitutes it."<ref>{{S11}} p.275</ref>
Lacan's elaboration of the praxis ([[Desiretheory]] is simultaneously the heart of and [[humanpractice]] ) of desire extends over his half-century of work in psychoanalysis, and attempting to abbreviate it or replace the necessary [[existencereading]] and the central concern of with a [[psychoanalysissummary]]would be imprudent and misleading. Therefore, we can only indicate some suggestions for further reading (in Lacan's works) and further lines of enquiry.
However, when [[A first ingredient of the concept of desire in Lacan]] talks about 's work contains a [[desireHegelian]]reference, it is not any kind of [[according to which desire]] he is referring bound to, but always its being recognized — even if later on Lacan emphasized the [[unconsciousdifference]] between his and Hegel's positions (Lacan, 1977 [[desire]1959], pp. 292-325).
This But the reference to Freud's analysis of desire as revealed in the dream is not because [[from the start highly significant. Lacan]] sees [[conscious]] [[desire]] as unimportantemphasized that the analysis of the dream is in fact an analysis of the dreamer, that is, but simply because it a subject who tells the dream to an other (with whom the subject is engaged in a [[unconscioustransference]] -relation). In '[[desire]] that forms the central concern The function and field of [[speech and language in psychoanalysis]].' (1953), Lacan writes:
:Nowhere does it appear more clearly that man's desire finds its [[meaning]] in the desire of the other, not so much because the other holds the key to the object desired, as because the first [[Unconscious object of desire]] is entirely to be recognized by the other. (Lacan, 1977 [[sexuality|sexual1959]]:, p. 58)
<blockquote>"The motives of That the other holds the key to the unconscious are limited object desired takes on added [[value]] later in Lacan's work. Yet that desire emerges in a relationship with the other which is [[dialectical]], that is, which is embedded in discourse, is an essential property of human desire. . to sexual Human desire . . . The other great generic is the desireof the Other (over and above the [[others]] who are [[concrete]] incarnations of the Other), not '[[natural]]', endogenous appetites or tendencies that would push the subject in one direction or [[another]] irrespective of his/her relations with the Other; desire is always inscribed in and mediated by language (cf. The Four Fundamental [[Concepts]] of hunger[[Psycho]]-Analysis, which is not representedan essential reference in its entirety; Lacan, 1977)."<ref>{{E}} p.142</ref>
Lacan' (Es study of the dialectical [[nature]] of desire led to his [[distinction]] between desire, 142)need and demand. The [[three]] [[terms]] describe lacks in the subject; yet it is indispensable to [[identify]] each of these lacks, and their interrelations. The satisfaction of vital [[needs]] is subject to demand, and makes the subject dependent on speech and language.
The least noisy appeal of the infant is already inscribed in language, as it is [[Desireinterpreted]] is by the heart of [[human]] [[existence]]'significant' others as speech, fundamental to every aspect not as a mere cry. This primordial discursive circuit makes of the infant already a [[psychic]] [[lifespeaking]] being, a subject of speech, even at the [[individualstage]] and in which he/she is still infant. This subordination to the [[social]] [[system]] in which Other through language marks the [[individual]] finds him or herself embeddedhuman forever.Lacan writes:
:The [[Desirephenomenology]] provides that emerges from [[analytic]] [[experience]] is certainly of a kind to demonstrate in desire the paradoxical, deviant, erratic, eccentric, even scandalous [[character]] by which it is distinguished from need [...]:Demand in itself bears on something other than the satisfactions it calls for. It is demand of a presence or of an [[subjectabsence]] — which is what is manifested in the primordial relation to the mother, pregnant with its primary motivation that Other to be situated short of the needs that it can satisfy.:Demand constitutes the Other as already possessing the 'privilege' of [[satisfying]] needs, that is to say, the [[power]] of depriving them of that alone by which they are [[satisfied]] [...].:In this way, demand annuls (''aufhebt'') the [[particularity]] of everything that can be granted by transmuting it into a proof of love, and the very satisfactions that it obtains for need are reduced (''sich erniedrigt'') to the level of being no more than the crushing of the demand for love.:Thus desire is neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand for love, but the difference that results from the subtraction of the first from the second, the phenomenon of their [[splitting]] ([[frustrationSpaltung]]). (Lacan, 1977 [1959], pp. 286-7)
This residual status of desire constitutes its [[essence]]; at this point the question of the [[Object of Desire|object of desire]] acquires crucial importance. Lacan considered his theory of this object to be his only original contribution to psychoanalysis.
==Desire, Need and Demand==Although an exaggeration in [[Lacanreality]] distinguishes between three related concepts:* , Lacan's position is justified because with that theory he introduced in psychoanalysis a conception of the object that is genuinely revolutionary and that makes possible a [[desirerational]]* critique of the [[neednotion]] (''besoin'of ')* [[demandobject relations]] (''demande'') and its clinical applications.
For what Lacan emphasized was the [[illusory]] nature of any object that appears to fulfil desire, while the gap, the original splitting which is constitutive of the subject, is [[real]]; and it is in this gap that the [[object a]], the object [[cause of desire]], installs itself. (Lacan 1977; in [[particular]], chapter 20).
==Need==The Desire requires the support of the [[humanfantasy]] , which operates as its ''mise en scène'', where the [[infantfading]] is born with certain subject faces the [[biologicallost object]] thatcauses his/her desire (Lacan 1977 [[need1959]]s , p. 313). This fading of the subject in the fantastic scenario that require supports his/her desire is what makes desire opaque to the subject him-/herself. Desire is a metonymy (constant or periodicp. 175) [[satisfaction]]because the object that causes it, constituted as lost, makes it displace permanently, from object to object, as no one object can really satisfy it.
The This permanent [[humandisplacement]] of desire follows the [[infantlogic]] has certain of the unconscious; thus Lacan could say that desire is its interpretation, as it moves along the [[biologicalchain]] of unconscious [[needsignifiers]], without ever being [[captured]]s which are satisfied by certain any particular [[signifier]] (cf. [[Seminar]] VI, '[[objectDesire and its Interpretation]]s'; Lacan, 1958-59).
In the [[Needanalytic experience]] , desire 'must be taken literally', as it is a [[biological]] [[instinct]] through the unveiling of the signifiers that requires support it (constant or periodicalbeit never exhausting it) that its real cause can be circumscribed (Lacan, 1977 [[satisfaction]1959], pp. 256-77).
Desire is the other side of the law: the contributions of psychoanalysis to ethical [[reflection]] and practice have started off by recognizing this [[principle]] (Lacan, 1990; 1992). Desire opposes a [[Needbarrier]] emerges according to jouissance - the requirements jouissance of the organism drive (always [[partial]], not in relation to the [[body]] considered as a [[totality]], but to the [[organic]] function to which it is attached and from which it detaches), and abates completely that of the [[super-ego]] (even if only temporarily) when with its implacable command to [[satisfiedenjoy]]; Lacan, 1977 [1959], p. 319).
The Thus, desire appears to be on the side of [[humanlife]] preservation, as it opposes the lethal [[infantdimension]] is born into a state of jouissance (the partiality of the drive, which disregards the requirements of the [[helplessnessliving]]organism, and the [[demands]] of the [[superego]] - that `[[senseless]] law' - which result in the [[self]]-destructive unconscious [[sense]] of [[guilt]]). But desire itself is unable to not without a structural relation with [[death]]: death at the heart of the [[satisfyspeaking being]] its own 's lack-in-being (manqué à l'être); death in the mortifying effect of those objects of the [[biologicalworld]] that entice desire, inducing its [[needsalienation]], without ever satisfying any promise.
The There is no Sovereign [[infantGood]]that would sustain the `right' orientation of desire, unable to or [[satisfyguarantee]] its own the subject's well-being. As a consequence, the [[needsethics]], must depend on of psychoanalysis require that the [[Otheranalyst]] does not pretend to embody or to help deliver any Sovereign Good; it rather prescribes for the analyst that `the only [[thing]] of which one can be [[satisfyguilty]] themis of having given ground relative to one's desire' (Lacan, 1992, p. 319).
The [[Other]] can help analyst's desire, 'a desire to obtain absolute difference', is the original [[satisfyLacanian]] concept that defines the position of the analyst in [[needanalytic discourse]]s , and represents a culmination of his elucidationof the [[infant]]function of desire in psychoanalysis (Lacan, 1977, p. 276; 1991).
The This position is structural, constitutive of analytic discourse - not a psychological [[Otherstate]] can provide of the analyst. It is his/her lack-in-being, rather than any 'positive' mode of being that orients the analyst's [[Direction of the Treatment|direction of the treatment]] (Lacan, 1977 [1959], p. 230). This means that the analyst cannot incarnate an [[objectideal]]s which for the analysand, and that he/she occupies a position of [[subjectsemblant]] requires to satisfy his of the cause of desire (Lacan, 1991; 1998). Only in this way may the analyst's desire become the [[needinstrument]]of the analysand'saccess to his/her own desire.
See also: [[jouissance]], [[subject]]
==Demand==References[[Freud, S.]] (1953) [1900a] [[The function Interpretation of Dreams]]. Standard Edition of the [[demandComplete]] is to serve as an articulation Psychological Works of [[needSigmund Freud]], Vols 4 & 5. [[London]]: Hogarth Press.
#Lacan, J. (1958-59) `Le désir et son interpretation' (seven sessions, ed. by J.-A. [[Miller]]). [[Ornicar]]? 24 (1981):7-31; 25 (1982):13-36; 26/27 (1983):7-44. The final three sessions appeared as `Desire and the Interpretation of Desire in [[infantHamlet]]'. Yale French Studies 55/56 (1977):11-52. There are unedited transcripts of the [[whole]] seminar available in French and English.#Lacan, J. (1977) [1959] Écrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock.#Lacan, in order to get help from the J. (1977) The [[OtherFour Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis]]. London: Tavistock.# Lacan, must articulate J. (express1990) its `[[Kant]] with [[needSade]]s '. October 51. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press.# Lacan, J. (vocally1991) in Le Séminaire, Livre XVII, L'envers de la [[psychanalyse]], 1969-1970. [[Paris]]: Seuil.# Lacan, J. (the form 1992) [[The Seminar]], Book VII, [[The Ethics of aPsychoanalysis]], 1959-1960. New York: W.W. Norton; London: Routledge.# Lacan, J. (1998) The Seminar, Book XX, [[Encore]], 1972-1973, On [[Feminine]] Sexuality: The Limits of Love and [[Knowledge]]. New York: W.W. Norton. [[demandLeonardo]]S.Rodriguez
The =====''Unconscious'' Desire=====<!-- If there is any one concept which can [[demandclaim]] serves to bring be the very center of [[Lacan]]'s [[Otherthought]] to help , it is the concept of [[desire]]. -->[[Lacan]] follows [[Spinoza]] in arguing that "[[satisfydesire]] is the essence of man."<ref>{{S11}} p. 275</ref> [[needsDesire]] is simultaneously the heart of [[human]] [[existence]] and the central concern of [[infantpsychoanalysis]]. However, when [[Lacan]] talks [[about]] [[desire]], it is not any kind of [[desire]] he is referring to, but always ''[[unconscious]]'' [[desire]]. This is not because [[Lacan]] sees [[conscious]] [[desire]] as unimportant, but simply because it is [[unconscious]] [[desire]] that forms the central concern of [[psychoanalysis]]. <!-- [[Unconscious]] [[desire]] is entirely [[sexuality|sexual]]; <blockquote>"the motives of the unconscious are limited . . . to sexual desire . . . The other great generic desire, that of hunger, is not represented."<ref>{{E}} p. 142</ref></blockquote> -->
=====Truth and Desire=====The [[Demandaim]] of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is to lead the [[analysand]] to recognize the [[truth]] about his [[desire]]. It is also a only possible to recognize one's [[demanddesire]] for when it is articulate in [[lovespeech]] (beyond . <!-- <blockquote>"It is only once it is formulated, named in the [[satisfactionpresence]] of the [[other]], that [[needdesire]]), whatever it is, is recognised in the [[full]] sense of the term."<ref>{{S1}} p.183</ref></blockquote> -->
The =====Existence=====Hence in [[psychoanalysis]], "what's important is to teach the [[subject]] to [[name]], to articulate, to bring this [[desire]] into [[existence]]."<ref>{{S2}} p. 228</ref> However, it is not a question of seeking a new means of expression for a given [[presencedesire]] , for this would imply a expressionist theory of [[language]]. On the contrary, by articulating [[Otherdesire]] in [[speech]], the [[analysand]] brings it into [[existence]]. (becomes important The [[analysand]], by articulating [[desire]] in itself) [[symbolizesspeech]], (does not simply give expression to a pre-existing [[desire]] the but rather) brings that [[Otherdesire]]'s into [[loveexistence]].)
The <blockquote>"That the [[biologicalsubject]] should come to recognise and to name his [[needdesire]]s of ; that is the efficacious [[infantaction]] becomes subordinated to the of [[demandanalysis]] for the . But it isn't a question of [[recognitionrecognising]] and something which would be entirely given. ... In naming it, the [[lovesubject]] of the creates, brings forth, a new [[Otherpresence]]in the world."<ref>{{S2}} p. 228-9</ref></blockquote>
The However, there is a [[needlimit]]s which are to how far [[desire]] can be articulated in [[demandspeech]] because of a fundamental "incompatibility between [[desire]] and [[speech]];"<ref>{{E}} p. 275</ref> it is this incompatibility which explains the [[irreducibility]] of the [[unconscious]]s are (i.e. the fact the the [[satisfiedunconscious]]is not that which ''is not known'', but that which ''cannot be known'').
The "Although the [[truth]] about [[Otherdesire]] is [[present]] to some degree in all [[speech]], [[speech]] can provide never articulate the whole [[truth]] about [[objectdesire]]s which the ; whenever [[subjectspeech]] requires attempts to satisfy his articulate [[needdesire]]s, but cannot provide that unconditional there is always a leftover, a [[lovesurplus]] , which the exceeds [[infantspeech]] craves. "<ref>{{Evans}} p. 36</ref>
The =====Criticism=====One of [[OtherLacan]] (can 's most important criticisms of the [[satisfypsychoanalysis|psychoanalytic theories]] of his day was that they tended to confuse the concept of [[needdesire]]s that are articulated in with the related concepts of [[demand]]s of the and [[need]]. In opposition to this tendency, [[infantLacan]] insists on distinguishing between these three concepts. This distinction begins to emerge in his work in 1957,<ref>{{S4}} pp. 100-1, 125</ref>, butonly crystallises in 1958.<ref>{{L}} (1958c) cannot "[[satisfyThe Signification of the Phallus|La signification du phallus]] the ." ''[[infantÉcrits]]'s '. Paris: Seuil, 1966: 685-95 ["[[The Signification of the Phallus|The signification of the phallus]]". Trans. [[demandAlan Sheridan]] for ''[[loveÉcrits: A Selection]]''. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1977: 281-91].</ref>
Even after =====Need=====[[Need]] is a purely [[biological]] [[instinct]], an appetite which emerges according to the requirements of the organism and which abates completely (even if only temporarily) when satisfied. The [[human]] [[subject]], being [[born]] in a state of [[helplessness]], is unable to [[satisfy]] its own [[need]]s, and hence depends on the [[Other]] to [[help]] it [[satisfy]] them. In order to get the [[Other]]'s help, the [[infant]] must express its [[need]]s which are vocally; need must be articulated in [[demand]]. The [[primitive]] [[demand]]s of the [[infant]] may only be inarticulate screams, but they serve to bring the [[Other]] to minister to the [[infant]]'s [[need]]s are . However, the [[presence]] of the [[Other]] soon acquires an importance in itself, an importance that goes beyond the [[satisfaction]] of [[satisfiedneed]], since this [[presence]] [[symbolize]]s the [[Other]]'s [[love]]. Hence [[demand]] (soon takes on a [[double]] function, serving both as an articulation of [[need]] and as a [[demand]] for [[love]]. However, whereas the [[Other]] can provide the [[object]]s which the [[subject]] requires to satisfy his [[need]]s, the [[Other]] cannot provide that unconditional [[love]] which the [[subject]] craves. Hence even after the [[need]]s which were articulated in [[demand]] have been satisfied, the other aspect of [[demand]] , the craving for [[love]]) , remains [[unsatisfied]], and this leftover is [[desire]].
This leftover <blockquote>"Desire is [[desire]]neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand for love, but the difference that results from the subtraction of the first from the second."<ref>{{E}} p. 287</ref></blockquote>
=====Demand=====
[[Desire]] is thus the [[surplus]] produced by the articulation of [[need]] in [[demand]];
==<blockquote>"Desire==[[Desire]] is what remains of [[demand]] after begins to take shape in the [[need]]s margin in which are articulated in that [[demand]] are [[satisfied]]becomes separated from need."<ref>{{E}} p.311</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>"Unlike a [[Desireneed]] is neither , which can be satisfied and which then ceases to motivate the appetite for [[satisfactionsubject]] until another [[need]]arises, nor the [[demanddesire]] for can never be satisfied; it is constant in its pressure, and eternal. The realisation of [[lovedesire]]does not consist in being "fulfilled", but in the difference that results from the subtraction reproduction of the first from the second."<ref>{{E}} p[[desire]] as such.287</ref></blockquote>
=====Alexandre Kojève=====[[DesireLacan]] 's distinction between [[need]] and [[desire]], which lifts the concept of [[desire]] completely out of the realm of [[biology]], is strongly reminiscent of [[Kojève]]'s distinction between [[animal]] and [[human]] [[desire]]; [[desire]] is shown to be distinctively [[human]] when it is directed either toward another [[desire]], or to an object which is "perfectly useless from the [[surplusbiology|biological]] produced by the articulation point of view."<ref>[[needAlexandre Kojève|Kojève, Alexandre]](1947 [1933-39] in ) ''Introduction to the Reading of Hegel''. Trans. [[demandJames]]H. Nichols Jr.New York and London: Basic Books, 1969: 6</ref>
<blockquote>"=====Desire and Drive=====It is important to distinguish between [[desire]] and the [[drive]]s. Although they both belong to the field of the [[DesireOther]] begins (as opposed to take shape in [[love]]), [[desire]] is one whereas the [[drive]]s are many. In other [[words]], the [[drive]]s are the margin in which particular (partial) manifestations of a single force called [[desire]] (although there may also be [[demanddesire]] becomes separated from s which are not manifested in the [[needdrive]]s)."<ref>{{ES11}} p.311243</ref></blockquote> There is only one [[object]] of [[desire]], [[object (petit) a]], and this is represented by a variety of [[partial objects]] in different partial [[drive]]s. The [[object (petit) a]] is not the [[object]] towards which [[desire]] tends, but the [[cause]] of [[desire]]. [[Desire]] is not a relation to an [[object]], but a relation to a [[lack]].
=====Desire of the Other=====One of [[DesireLacan]], unlike 's most oft-repeated [[needformulas]], is: "man's desire is the desire of the Other."<ref>{{S11}} p. 235</ref> This can never be [[satisfiedunderstood]]in many complementary ways, of which the following are the most important.
A =====More=====1. [[needDesire]] (that is essentially "desire of the Other's desire", which means both [[satisfieddesire]]) ceases to motivate be the [[infantobject]] until of another 's [[desire]], and [[needdesire]] arisesfor [[recognition]] by another.
[[DesireLacan]] takes this [[idea]] from [[Hegel]], via [[Kojève]] is constant in its pressure, and eternal. who states:
<blockquote>Desire is human only if the one desires, not the body, but the Desire of the other . . . that is to say, if he wants to be 'desired' or 'loved', or, rather, 'recognised' in his human value. . . . In other words, all human, anthropogenetic Desire . . . is, finally, a function of the desire for 'recognition'.<ref>[[Alexandre Kojève|Kojève, Alexandre]] (1947 [1933-39]) ''Introduction to the Reading of Hegel''. Trans. James H. Nichols Jr. New York and London: Basic Books, 1969: 6</ref></blockquote>
=====Object of Another's Desire of the Other=====[[LacanKojève]] goes on to argue (still following [[Hegel]] asserted ) that in order to achieve the [[desire]]d recognition, the [[subject]] must risk his own life in a [[struggle]] for pure prestige (see [[master]]). That [[desire]] is essentially [[desire]] to be the [[object]] of another's [[desire]] is clearly illustrated in the first '[[time]]' of the [[OtherOedipus complex]], when the [[subject]] desires to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]].
=====Two=====2. It is qua Other that the subject desires:<ref>{{E}} p. 312</ref> that is, the [[subject]] [[Desiredesire]] s from the point of view of another. The effect of this is that "the object of man's desire . . . is essentially an object desired by someone else."<ref>{{L}} "[[humanSome Reflections on the Ego]] when ." ''International Journal of Psychoanalysis''. Vol. 34. 1953[1951b]: 12</ref> What makes an [[object]] desirable is not any intrinsic quality of [[the thing]] in itself but simply the fact that it is directed toward another [[desire]]d by another.
<blockquote>"The [[Mandesire]]'s of the [[desireOther]] is thus what makes objects equivalent and exchangeable; this "tends to diminish the special [[desiresignificance]] of any one particular object, but at the [[Other]]same time it brings into view the existence of objects without number."<ref>{{S11L}} p"[[Some Reflections on the Ego]].235" ''International Journal of Psychoanalysis''. Vol. 34. 1953[1951b]: 12</ref></blockquote>
The statement provides the basis for our consideration of [[desire]] in This idea too is taken from [[LacanKojève]]’s conception 's reading of [[subjectivityHegel]] and points to the fundamentally social character of ; [[desireKojève]].argues that:
<blockquote>"Desire directed toward a natural object is human only to the extent that it is 'mediated' by the Desire of another directed towards the same object: it is human to desire what others desire, because they desire it."<ref>[[Alexandre Kojève|Kojève, Alexandre]] (1947 [1933-39]) ''Introduction to the Reading of Hegel''. Trans. James H. Nichols Jr. New York and London: Basic Books, 1969: 6</ref></blockquote>
==Object of the Other's Desire==<blockquote>The [[Desirereason]] is for this goes back to the [[former point about human desire being desire]] for recognition; by desiring that which another desires, I can make the [[Other]]'s [[desire]], other recognise my right to possess that isobject, and thus make the other recognise my superiority over him.<ref>[[desireAlexandre Kojève|Kojève, Alexandre]](1947 [1933-39] ) ''Introduction to be the [[object]] Reading of the [[Other]]Hegel''s [[desire]].Trans. James H. Nichols Jr. New York and London: Basic Books, 1969: 40</ref></blockquote>
=====Hysteria=====This [[Desireuniversal]] feature of [[desire]] is especially evident in [[hysteria]]; the [[hysteric]] is one who sustains another person's [[desire]], converts another's [[desire]] into her own (e.g. [[Dora]] desires Frau K because she [[identifies]] with Herr K, thus appropriating his perceived desire).<ref>{{S4}} p. 138; {{F}} (1905e) "[[{{FB}}|Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria]]." [[SE]] VII, 3.</ref> Hence what is important in the [[analysis]] of a [[hysteric]] is not to find out the object of her desirebut to discover the [[place]] for 'from which she [[recognitiondesire]]' s (by anotherthe [[subject]] with whom she identifies).
The =====Desire for the Other=====# [[Desire]] is [[Oedipus complexdesire]] illustrates ''for'' the [[desireOther]] (playing on the ambiguity of the French preposition ''de''). The fundamental [[subjectdesire]] to be is the incestuous [[phallusdesire]] for the [[mother]], the primordial [[Other]].<ref>{{S7}} p.67</ref>
# [[Desire]] is always "the desire for something else,"<ref>{{E}} p. 167</ref> since it is [[impossible]] to [[desire]] what one already has. The [[object]] of [[desire]] is continually deferred, which is why [[desire]] is a [[metonymy]].<ref>{{E}} p. 175</ref>
==Object Desired by Others==<blockquote>"The [[object]] of [[man]]'s [[desire]] ... is essentially an [[object]] [[desire]]d by someone else."<ref>Lacan. 1951b. p.12</ref></blockquote> The [[object]] is [[desirable]] (not due to any intrinsic quality but) because [[other]]s [[desire]] it. It is qua [[Other]] that the [[subject]] [[desire]]s.<ref>{{E}} p.312</ref> It is [[human]] to [[desire]] what others [[desire]] because they [[desire]] it. ==Desire for the Other==[[Desire]] is [[desire]] for the [[Other]]. The fundamental [[desire]] is the [[incestuous]] [[desire]] for the [[mother]], the primordial [[Other]].<ref>{{S7}} p.67</ref> ==Impossible Desire==<blockquote>[[Desire]] is always "the [[desire]] for something else," because it is impossible to [[desire]] what one already has.<ref>{{E}} p.167</ref></blockquote> The [[object]] of [[desire]] is continually deferred, which is why [[desire]] is [[metonymy]].<ref>{{E}} p.175</ref> ==Social Desire==# [[Desire]] emerges originally in the field of the [[Other]], that is, in the [[unconscious]]. [[Desire]] is a social product.[[Desire]] is not the private affair it appears to be, but is always constituted in a [[dialectical]] relationship with the perceived [[desire]]s of others. <blockquote>The most important point to emerge from Lacan’s phrase [that "the object of man’s desire […] is essentially an object desired by someone else" (qtd. in Evans 38)] is that desire is a social product. Desire is not the private affair it appears to be but is always constituted in a dialectical relationship with the perceived desires of other subjects."<ref>Evans 39</ref></blockquote> OBJET AThe [[objet petit a]] is represented by a variety of [[partial object]]s in diffent partial [[drive]]s. The [[objet petit a]] is not the object towards which [[desire]] tends, but the cause of desire. [[Desire]] is not a relation to an [[object]], but a relation to a [[lack]]. ==Desire and Prohibition==<blockquote>The [[law]] (or [[prohibition]]) "creates [[desire]] in the first place by creating interdiction. [[Desire]] is essentially the [[desire]] to [[transgress]], and for there to be [[transgression]] it is first necessary for there to be [[prohibition]]."<ref>{{Evans}} p.99</ref></blockquote> The [[law]] gives rise to [[desire]] as that which circulates endlessly around a [[prohibited]] core (of ''[[jouissance]]''). (The [[prohibition]] establishes [[desire]] as the ultimate motivational force in [[subjectivity]].) ==Desire and Psychoanalytic Treatment==The [[aim]] of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is to lead the [[analysand]] to recognize the [[truth]] about his or her [[desire]]. It is only possible to recognize one's [[desire]] when it is articulate in [[speech]]. <blockquote>"It is only once it is formulated, named in the [[presence]] of the [[other]], that [[desire]], whatever it is, is recognised in the full sense of the term."<ref>{{S1}} p.183</ref></blockquote> <blockquote>In [[psychoanalysis]], "what's important is to teach the [[subject]] to name, to articulate, to bring this [[desire]] into [[existence]]."<ref>{{S2}} p.228</ref></blockquote> There is a limit to how far [[desire]] can be articulated in [[speech]] because of a fundamental "incompatibility between [[desire]] and [[speech]]."<ref>{{E}} p.275</ref> The [[analysand]], by articulating [[desire]] in [[speech]], (does not simply give expression to a pre-existing [[desire]] but rather) brings that [[desire]] into [[existence]]. <blockquote>"That the [[subject]] should come to recognise and to name his [[desire]]; that is the efficacious action of [[analysis]]. But it isn't a question of [[recognising]] something which would be entirely given. ... In naming it, the [[subject]] creates, brings forth, a new [[presence]] in the worldi."<ref>{{S2}} pe.228-9</ref></blockquote> <blockquote>"Although the [[truth]] about [[desire]] is present to some degree in all [[speech]], [[speech]] can never articulate the whole [[truth]] about [[desire]]; whenever [[speech]] attempts to articulate [[desire]], there is always a leftover, a [[surplus]], which exceeds [[speech]]."<ref>Evans 36</ref></blockquote> ==Desire and Language== [[Desire]] is created at the moment of the [[infant]]'s accession to the [[symbolic]] [[order]]. [[Desire]] is inseparable from the [[symbolic]] [[order]] and thus inhabits all (inheres in) [[signification]] (as such). [[Desire]] is inscribed in the [[signifying chain]] in its essential [[metonymy]]. <blockquote>"[[Man]]’s [[desire]] is a [[metonymy]]. [...] [[Desire]] is a [[metonymy]]."<ref>{{E}} p.175</ref></blockquote> The perpetual reference of one [[signifer]] to another in an eternal deferral of [[meaning]] is a formulation of the ceaseless movement of [[desire]]. ==Impossible Desire== According to [[Lacan]], [[desire]] is by its very nature [[insatiable]]; it can never be fulfilled. Any attempt to [[satisfy]] [[desire]] is always undercut by a residue that remains unattainable. [[Desire]] designates the impossible relation that a [[subject]] has with [[objet petit a]]. The core around which [[desire]] circulates is [[prohibited]]. ==Desire and Impossibility==The important aspect of the paternal interdiction that inaugurates the infant’s traumatic accession to the symbolic order is that what the word-of-the-father interdicts is in fact an impossibility. The infant’s sought-after direct identification with the mother is impossible. The paternal interdiction only formalises this impossibility as a prohibition, covering it over with the compensation of symbolisation. The prohibitive aspect of the [[law]] is merely a socially institutionalised form of the fundamental [[impossibility]] at the heart of desire. No [[object]] can ever fulfil [[desire]]. ==Desire and the Death Drive== [[Lacan]] posits a distinction between [[desire]] and [[drive]]. It is important to distinguish between [[desire]] and the [[drive]]s. The [[drive]]s are the particular (partial) manifestations of a single force called [[desireunconscious]].
=====Social Product=====
The most important point to emerge from [[Lacan]]'s phrase is that [[desire]] is a [[social]] product. [[Desire]] is not the private affair it appears to be but is always constituted in a [[dialectic|dialectical relationship]] with the perceived [[desire]]s of other [[subject]]s.
=====(M)other=====
The first person to occupy the place of the [[Other]] is the [[mother]], and at first the [[child]] is at the mercy of her [[desire]]. It is only when the [[Father]] articulates [[desire]] with the [[law]] by [[castrating]] the [[mother]] that the [[subject]] is freed from subjection to the whims of the [[mother]]'s [[desire]].
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Need]]
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* [[Drive]]
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* [[Demand]]
{{Also}}
==References==
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