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[[Lacan]]'s use of the term '[[being]]' (''être'') introduces a metaphysical note to his discourse that distinguishes it from most other [[school]]s of [[psychoanalytic theory]], which refuse to engage with their metaphysical and philosophical foundations.<ref>{{E}} p.228</ref>
[[Lacan]] argues that it is necessary for psychoanalysts to engage with such concerns, for when the [[analyst]] intervenes his action "goes to the heart of [the analysand's] being," and this also affects his own [[being]], since he cannot "remain alone outside the field of play."<ref>{{E}} p.228</ref>
Hence "it is certainly in the relation to being that the analyst has to find his operating level."<ref>{{E}} p.252</ref>
[[Lacan]] also argues that during the course of the [[treatment]] the [[analyst]] is subjected to a progressive loss of being (Fr. ''désêtre''), as he is gradually reduced to being a mere [[object]] for the [[analysand]].
==More==[[Lacan]]'s discussion of [[being]] is clearly influenced by the ideas of [[Martin Heidegger]].<ref>(see Heidegger, 1927)</ref> [[Being]] belongs to the [[symbolic]] [[order]], since it is "the relation to the Other in which being finds its status."<ref>({{E, }} p.251)</ref>
This relation, like the [[Other]] itself, is marked by a [[lack]] (''manque''), and the [[subject]] is constituted by this [[lack]] of [[being]] (''manque-à-être''), which gives rise to [[desire]], a want-to-be (''manque-à-être''); [[desire]] is thus essentially a [[desire]] for [[being]].
==More==Whenever [[Lacan]] opposes [[being]] to [[existence]], œt œS it is with [[existence]] in the [[real]], which contrasts with the [[symbolic]] function of [[being]]. Something may thus be without existing, when it is constructed from [[speech]] but finds no correlate in the [[real]] (e.g. the complete [[Other]]). Conversely, something may exist without being, such as the 'ineffable, stupid existence' of the [[subject]], which cannot be completely reduced to a signifying articulation.<ref>({{E, }} p.194)</ref> ==More==
[[Lacan]] coins the neologism '''parlêtre''' from the verbal noun ''être'' ('being') and the verb ''parler'' ('to speak') to emphasise his point that [[being]] is constituted in and through [[language]].
A [[human]] [[being]] is above all a [[speaking being]].
