Difference between revisions of "Demand"

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{{Les termes}}
 
  
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demand (''demande'')                
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The French terms demander and demande lack the connotations of imperativeness and urgency conveyed by the English word 'demand', and are perhaps closer to the English words 'ask for' and 'request'.
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The term '[[demand]]' (''demande'')
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In the 1956-7 seminar, [[Object Relations]] [[Lacan]] addresses the [[call]] (''l'appel'' or ''cri'') of an [[infant]] to the [[mother]].<ref>[[Jacques Lacan|Lacan, Jacques]]. [[Object Relations]]. ''La relation d'objet et les structures freudiennes.'' p.182</ref>
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[[Lacan]] argues that this cry is not merely an instinctual signal but "is inserted in a synchronic world of cries organised in a symbolic system."<ref>[[Jacques Lacan|Lacan, Jacques]]. [[Object Relations]]. ''La relation d'objet et les structures freudiennes.'' p.188</ref> 
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The screams of the infant become organized in a linguistic structure long before the child is capable of articulating recognisable words.
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[[Jacques Lacan]] introduces the concept of [[demand]] in 1958 in the context of his distinction between [[need]], [[demand]] and [[desire]].
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It is the symbolic nature of the infant's screams which forms the kernel of Lacan's concept of demand.
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The [[infant]] is unable to perform the [[action]]s that would satisfy its [[biology|biological]] [[need]]s.
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The [[infant]] must articulate its [[biology|biological]] [[need]]s in vocal form so that the [[mother]] can peform those actions instead.
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For example: the [[infant]] articulates [[hunger]], a [[biology|biological]] [[need]], in a scream so that the [[mother]] will feed it.
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The [[object]] which [[satisfaction|satisfies]] [[need]] (provided by another) also signifies the [[Other]]'s [[love]].
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The [[demand]] that articulates a [[biology|biological]] [[need]] becomes a [[demand]] for [[love]].
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The [[symbolic function]] of the [[demand]] (as a [[demand]] for [[love]]) overshadows its real function as an articulation of [[need]].
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The function of [[demand]] as an articulation of [[need]] becomes overshadows by its [[symbolic function]] (as a [[demand]] for [[love]]).
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The [[biology|biological]] [[need]] that [[demand]] articulates can be [[satisfaction|satisfied]].
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The [[demand]] for [[love]] is insatiable.
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The [[demand]] for [[love]] persists as a [[leftover]] even after the [[biology|biological]] [[need]]s have been [[satisfaction|satisfied]].
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This [[leftover]] constitutes [[desire]].
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Demand is thus intimately linked to the human subject's initial [[helplessness]].
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By forcing the analysand to express himself entirely in speech,
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the psychoanalytic situation puts him back in the position of the helpless infant, thus encouraging [[regression]].
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Through the mediation of the demand, the whole past opens up right down to early infancy.
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The subject has never done anything other than demand, he could not have survived otherwise, and we just follow on from there.<ref>E, 254</ref>
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The French terms demander and demande lack the connotations of imperativeness and urgency conveyed by the English word 'demand', and are perhaps closer to the English words 'ask for' and 'request'.
 
  
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However, all English translations of Lacan use the term 'demand' in order to maintain consistency.
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However, while the speech of the analysand is itself already a demand (for a reply), this demand is underpinned by deeper demands (to be cured, to be revealed to himself, to become an analyst).<ref>E, 254</ref>
  
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Although the term 'demand' only begins to figure prominently in Lacan's work from 1958 on, related themes are already present in the 1956-7 seminar.
 
  
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It is in this seminar that Lacan discusses the call (l'appel), the baby's cry to the mother.<ref>S4, 182</ref> Lacan argues that this cry (cri) is not merely an instinctual signal but 'is inserted in a synchronic world of cries organised in a symbolic system'.<ref>S4, 188</ref> In other words, the infant's screams become organised in a linguistic structure long before the child is capable of articulating recognisable words.
 
  
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It is the 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 needs, it must articulate those needs in vocal form (demands) so that another (the mother) will perform the specific action instead. The primary example of such a biological need is hunger, which the child articulates in a scream (a demand) so that the mother will feed it.
 
  
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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.
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The [[analyst]] must engage with the [[demands]] of the [[analysand]].  He or she must not gratify the [[demand]]s of the [[analysand]], nor can he or she [[frustration|frustrate]] them.
  
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Accordingly demand too acquires a double function: in addition to articulating 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 needs which demand articulates may be satisfied, the craving for love is unconditional and insatiable, and hence persists as a leftover even after the needs have been satisfied; this leftover constitutes desire.
 
  
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Demand is thus intimately linked to the human subject's initial [[helplessness]]. By forcing the analysand to express himself entirely in speech, the psychoanalytic situation puts him back in the position of the helpless infant, thus encouraging [[regression]].
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In 1961, Lacan rethinks the various stages of libidinal organisation as forms of demand.  
  
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Through the mediation of the demand, the whole past opens up right down to early infancy. The subject has never done anything other than demand, he could not have survived otherwise, and we just follow on from there.<ref>E, 254</ref>
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The oral stage is constituted by a demand to be fed, which is a demand made by the subject.  
  
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However, while the speech of the analysand is itself already a demand (for a reply), this demand is underpinned by deeper demands (to be cured, to be revealed to himself, to become an analyst).<ref>E, 254</ref> The question of how the analyst engages with these demands is crucial. Certainly the analyst does not attempt to gratify the analysand's demands, but nor is it simply a question of frustrating them (see [[frustration]].
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In the 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, 238-46, 269</ref>  
  
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In 1961, Lacan rethinks the various stages of libidinal organisation as forms of demand. The oral stage is constituted by a demand to be fed, which is a demand made by the subject. In the 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, 238-46, 269</ref> In both of these pregenital stages the satisfaction of demand eclipses desire; only in the genital stage does desire come to be fully constituted.<ref>S8, 270</ref>
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In both of these pregenital stages the satisfaction of demand eclipses desire; only in the genital stage does desire come to be fully constituted.<ref>S8, 270</ref>
  
 
==def==
 
==def==
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== deff ==
 
== deff ==
  
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In [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalysis]], a '''demand''' results when a [[lack (psychoanalysis)|lack]] in [[the Real]] is phrased into [[the Symbolic]] medium of [[language]]. Whether or not demands achieve their apparent aims, they are always successful in the sense that all parapraxes or slips of the tongue are successful - they faithfully express [[unconscious]] signifying formations.  
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[[Demand]] arises when a [[lack]] in the [[Real]] becomes articulates in the [[symbolic]] medium of [[language]].
  
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But because the Real is never totally symbolizable, a residue or kernel of [[desire (psychoanalysis)|desire]] is left behind by every demand, representing a lost surplus of [[jouissance]] for the [[subject (philosophy)|subject]]. "Don't give me what I ask for, that's not it."
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[[Demand]], like [[parapraxes]] or [[slips of the tongue]], express [[unconscious]] signifying formations.
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[[Desire]] is leftover from the [[demand]].
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The [[Real]] cannot be symbolized.
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The leftover represents a [[loss|lost]] [[surplus]] of ''[[jouissance]]'' for the [[subject]].
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"Don't give me what I ask for, that's not it."
  
 
==ref==
 
==ref==
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==See Also==
 
==See Also==
 
* ''[[Seminar XI|The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis]]''
 
* ''[[Seminar XI|The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis]]''
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{{Les termes}}               
  
  
 
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
 
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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The [[symbolic function]] of the [[object]] as a proof of [[love]] overshadows its real function as that which satisfies a [[need]].

Revision as of 10:03, 7 June 2006

The French terms demander and demande lack the connotations of imperativeness and urgency conveyed by the English word 'demand', and are perhaps closer to the English words 'ask for' and 'request'.

The term 'demand' (demande)

In the 1956-7 seminar, Object Relations Lacan addresses the call (l'appel or cri) of an infant to the mother.[1] Lacan argues that this cry is not merely an instinctual signal but "is inserted in a synchronic world of cries organised in a symbolic system."[2] The screams of the infant become organized in a linguistic structure long before the child is capable of articulating recognisable words.


Jacques Lacan introduces the concept of demand in 1958 in the context of his distinction between need, demand and desire.

It is the symbolic nature of the infant's screams which forms the kernel of Lacan's concept of demand.




The infant is unable to perform the actions that would satisfy its biological needs. The infant must articulate its biological needs in vocal form so that the mother can peform those actions instead.

For example: the infant articulates hunger, a biological need, in a scream so that the mother will feed it.

The object which satisfies need (provided by another) also signifies the Other's love.


The demand that articulates a biological need becomes a demand for love.

The symbolic function of the demand (as a demand for love) overshadows its real function as an articulation of need. The function of demand as an articulation of need becomes overshadows by its symbolic function (as a demand for love).


The biological need that demand articulates can be satisfied. The demand for love is insatiable. The demand for love persists as a leftover even after the biological needs have been satisfied. This leftover constitutes desire.


Demand is thus intimately linked to the human subject's initial helplessness.

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


Through the mediation of the demand, the whole past opens up right down to early infancy. The subject has never done anything other than demand, he could not have survived otherwise, and we just follow on from there.[3]




However, while the speech of the analysand is itself already a demand (for a reply), this demand is underpinned by deeper demands (to be cured, to be revealed to himself, to become an analyst).[4]



The analyst must engage with the demands of the analysand. He or she must not gratify the demands of the analysand, nor can he or she frustrate them.


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

The oral stage is constituted by a demand to be fed, which is a demand made by the subject.

In the 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).[5]

In both of these pregenital stages the satisfaction of demand eclipses desire; only in the genital stage does desire come to be fully constituted.[6]

def

The concept of demand is not Freudian. It was developed by Jacques Lacan, who linked it with need and desire (Lacan, 1966, 1991). Demand is identifiable by the five clinical traits that constitute it, by the status that it gives the object, by its function in relation to the Other, and finally by its topological register.

Regarding demand, we can say that 1) it arises only from speech; 2) it is addressed to someone; 3) it is nevertheless only implicit; 4) it is related to a need for love, but also to desire; 5) it does not need to be...

deff

Demand arises when a lack in the Real becomes articulates in the symbolic medium of language.

Demand, like parapraxes or slips of the tongue, express unconscious signifying formations.

Desire is leftover from the demand. The Real cannot be symbolized. The leftover represents a lost surplus of jouissance for the subject.


"Don't give me what I ask for, that's not it."

ref

demand, 154-6, 209, 235, 269, 271, 273-4,278


[7]


References

  1. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Object Relations. La relation d'objet et les structures freudiennes. p.182
  2. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Object Relations. La relation d'objet et les structures freudiennes. p.188
  3. ↑ E, 254
  4. ↑ E, 254
  5. ↑ S8, 238-46, 269
  6. ↑ S8, 270
  7. ↑ The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis. Ed. J.-A. Miller. Trans. A. Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press, 1977.

See Also


The symbolic function of the object as a proof of love overshadows its real function as that which satisfies a need.

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