In Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalysis, desire is neither a conscious wish nor a reaction to a concrete need. It is an unquenchable movement of the psyche, born of a structural lack – a gap the subject can never fully close.
Desire arises where something is missing – not a specific thing, but a fundamental absence within the symbolic order that structures the subject’’’s world. This absence drives desire and keeps it alive. What is desired remains unclear: desire never really settles on a specific object but stays in motion, always shifting, always reaching.
Function in Lacan‘s theory: Lacan describes the subject as “subjectified through the desire of the Other” This means that the subject is formed in response to the question “What does the Other want from me?” – a question that can never be fully answered. And it is precisely in this impossibility that the subject’s own desire is born.
In Lacan’s words:
“Man’s desire is the desire of the Other.”
(le désir de l’homme est le désir de l’Autre)
Desire, then, is not a personal choice but a structure in which the subject is trapped. It is rooted in the Symbolic – in language, meaning, and the expectations of others. And it remains inherently unfulfilled: an object obtained inevitably falls short of what it seemed to promise.
Lacan’s ethical imperative is: “Do not give up on your desire!” This means that the subject should neither repress nor attempt to fully satisfy desire, but rather confront it – acknowledge its existence, reflect on its logic – even if it is unconscious, contradictory, or socially unacceptable. This confrontation with lack is not a weakness, but the very site of possible psychic growth.
