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[[Desire]] is a major concept of [[psychoanalytic theory]].
The concept of [[desire]] is the central concern of [[psychoanalytic theory]]. If there is any one concept which can claim to ve the very center of [theory[Lacan]]'s thought, it is the concept of [[desire]].
==Human Desire==
[[Lacan]], following follows [[Spinoza]], argues in arguing that "[[desire]]" is the essence of man."<ref>{{S11}} p.275</ref> [[Desire]] is simultaneously the heart of [[human]] [[existence]] and the central concern of [[psychoanalysis]]. However, when [[Lacan]] talks about [[desire]], it is not any kind of [[desire]] he is referring to, but always [[unconscious]] [[desire]]. This is not because [[Lacan]] sees [[conscious]] [[desire]] as unimportant, but simply because it is [[unconscious]] [[desire]] that forms the central concern of [[psychoanalysis]]. [[Unconscious desire]] is entirely [[sexuality|sexual]]: <blockquote>"The motives of the unconscious are limited . . . to sexual desire . . . The other great generic desire, that of hunger, is not represented."<ref>{{E}} p.142</ref> ' (E, 142).
[[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.
