Changes

In the [[seminar]] of 1956-7, [[Lacan]] argues that the '''cry''' of the '''[[helplessness|human infant]]''' -- its '''call''' (''l'appel'') to the '''[[mother]]''' -- is not merely an [[instinct|instinctual signal]] but is "inserted in a [[synchronic ]] [[world ]] of cries organized in a symbolic [[system]]."<ref>{{S4}} p. 182, 188</ref>

In other [[words]], the [[infant]]'s screams become organized in a [[linguistic]] [[structure]] long before the [[child]] is capable of articulating recognizable words.

It is the [[symbolic|symbolic nature]] of the infant's screams which forms the kernel of [[Lacan]]'s [[concept ]] of [[demand]], which Lacan introduces in 1958 in the context of his [[distinction ]] between [[need]], [[demand]] and [[desire]].

Lacan argues that since the [[infant]] is incapable of performing the specific actions that would [[satisfy ]] its [[biological]] [[need]]s, it must articulate those [[need]]s in vocal [[form ]] ([[demand]]s) so that [[another ]] (the [[mother]]) will perform the specific [[action ]] instead.

However, because the object]] which [[satisfies]] the [[child]]'s [[need]] is provided by another, it takes on the added [[significance ]] of [[being ]] a proof of the [[Other]]'s [[love]].

Accordingly [[demand]] too acquires a [[double ]] function: in addition to articualting a [[need]], it also becomes a [[demand]] for [[love]].

And just as the [[symbolic]] function of the [[object]] as a proof of [[love]] overshadows its [[real]] function as that which [[satisfies]] a [[need]], so too the [[symbolic]] [[dimension ]] of [[demand]] (as a [[demand]] for [[love]]) eclipses its real function (as an articulation of [[need]]).

It is this double function which gives [[birth ]] to [[desire]], since while the [[need]]s which [[demand]] articulates may be [[satisfied]], the craving for [[love]] is unconditional and [[insatiable]], and hence persists as a leftover even after the [[need]]s have been satisfied; this leftover constitutes [[desire]].

By forcing the [[analysand]] to express himself entirely in [[speech]], the [[treatment|psychoanalytic situation]] puts him back in the [[position ]] of the [[helpless]] [[infant]], thus encouraging [[regression]].

<blockquote>"Through the mediation of the demand, the [[whole ]] [[past ]] opens up [[right ]] to early infancy. [[The Subject|The subject ]] has never done anything other than demand, he could not have survived otherwise, an we just follow on from there."<ref>{{E}} p. 254</ref></blockquote>

The question of how the [[analyst]] engages with these [[demands ]] is crucial.

Certainly the [[analyst]] does not attempt to gratify the [[analysand]]'s [[demand]]s, but nor is it simply a question of [[frustration|frustrating]] [[them]].

In 1961, [[Lacan]] rethinks the various [[stages ]] of [[libidinal ]] organisation as forms of [[demand]].

In the [[development|anal stage]], on the other hand, it is not a question of the [[subject]]'s [[demand]], but the [[demand]] of the [[Other]] (the parent who disciplines the child in potty-[[training]]).<ref>{{S8}} p. 238-46, 269</ref>