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====Desire, Need and Demand=====
[[Lacan]] distinguishes between three related concepts:
* [[desire]]
* [[need]] (''besoin'')
* [[demand]] (''demande'')
=====Need=====
The [[human]] [[infant]] is born with certain [[biological]] [[need]]s that require (constant or periodic) [[satisfaction]].
The [[human]] [[infant]] has certain [[biological]] [[need]]s which are satisfied by certain [[object]]s.
[[Need]] is a [[biological]] [[instinct]] that requires (constant or periodic) [[satisfaction]].
[[Need]] emerges according to the requirements of the organism and abates completely (even if only temporarily) when [[satisfied]].
The [[human]] [[infant]] is born into a state of [[helplessness]], and is unable to [[satisfy]] its own [[biological]] [[needs]].
The [[infant]], unable to [[satisfy]] its own [[needs]], must depend on the [[Other]] to help it [[satisfy]] them.
The [[Other]] can help to [[satisfy]] the [[need]]s of the [[infant]].
The [[Other]] can provide the [[object]]s which the [[subject]] requires to satisfy his [[need]]s.
=====Demand=====
The function of [[demand]] is to serve as an articulation of [[need]].
The [[infant]], in order to get help from the [[Other]], must articulate (express) its [[need]]s (vocally) in (the form of a) [[demand]].
The [[demand]] serves to bring the [[Other]] to help [[satisfy]] the [[needs]] of the [[infant]].
[[Demand]] is also a [[demand]] for [[love]] (beyond the [[satisfaction]] of [[need]]).
The [[presence]] of the [[Other]] (becomes important in itself) [[symbolizes]] the [[Other]]'s [[love]].
The [[biological]] [[need]]s of the [[infant]] becomes subordinated to the [[demand]] for the [[recognition]] and [[love]] of the [[Other]].
The [[need]]s which are articulated in [[demand]]s are [[satisfied]].
The [[Other]] can provide the [[object]]s which the [[subject]] requires to satisfy his [[need]]s, but cannot provide that unconditional [[love]] which the [[infant]] craves.
The [[Other]] (can [[satisfy]] the [[need]]s that are articulated in the [[demand]]s of the [[infant]] but) cannot [[satisfy]] the [[infant]]'s [[demand]] for [[love]].
Even after the [[need]]s which are articulated in [[demand]]s are [[satisfied]], [[demand]] (as the [[demand]] for [[love]]) remains [[unsatisfied]]
This leftover is [[desire]].
=====Desire=====
[[Desire]] is what remains of [[demand]] after the [[need]]s which are articulated in that [[demand]] are [[satisfied]].
<blockquote>"[[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."<ref>{{E}} p. 287</ref></blockquote>
[[Desire]] is the [[surplus]] produced by the articulation of [[need]] in [[demand]].
<blockquote>"[[Desire]] begins to take shape in the margin in which [[demand]] becomes separated from [[need]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 311</ref></blockquote>
[[Desire]], unlike [[need]], can never be [[satisfied]].
A [[need]] (that is [[satisfied]]) ceases to motivate the [[infant]] until another [[need]] arises.
[[Desire]] is constant in its pressure, and eternal.
=====Desire of the Other=====
[[Lacan]] asserted that [[desire]] is the [[desire]] of the [[Other]].
[[Desire]] is [[human]] when it is directed toward another [[desire]].
<blockquote>"[[Man]]'s [[desire]] is the [[desire]] of the [[Other]].<ref>{{S11}} p.235</ref></blockquote>
The statement provides the basis for our consideration of [[desire]] in [[Lacan]]’s conception of [[subjectivity]] and points to the fundamentally social character of [[desire]].
=====Object of the Other's Desire=====
[[Desire]] is the [[desire]] for the [[Other]]'s [[desire]], that is, the [[desire]] to be the [[object]] of the [[Other]]'s [[desire]].
[[Desire]] is a [[desire]] for "[[recognition]]" (by another).
The [[Oedipus complex]] illustrates the [[desire]] of the [[subject]] to be the [[phallus]] for the [[mother]].
=====Object Desired by Others=====
<blockquote>"The [[object]] of [[man]]'s [[desire]] ... is essentially an [[object]] [[desire]]d by someone else."<ref>{{L}} "[[Some Reflections on the Ego]]." ''International Journal of Psychoanalysis''. Vol. 34. 1953[1951b]: 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] 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, Dylan]]. [[An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis]]. New York: Brunner-Routledge. 2003: 39</ref></blockquote>
OBJET A
The [[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 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 [[desire]].
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[[Desire]] is the heart of [[human]] [[existence]], fundamental to every aspect of the [[psychic]] [[life]] of the [[individual]] and to the [[social]] [[system]] in which the [[individual]] finds him or herself embedded.
