24,656
edits
Changes
no edit summary
[[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.
[[Desire]] provides the [[subject]] with its primary motivation and [[frustration]].
----
Lacan is very careful to distinguish between a 'need' and 'desire'. A need such as hunger or thirst can be satisfied. Desire on the other hand refers to something beyond basic human needs that cannot be satisfied. For Lacan, desire is a much broader and more abstract concept than either libido or 'wish' in Freud; in seminar XI he describes it, following Spinoza, as 'the essence of man' (1979 [1973]: 275). Desire is at the very core of our being and as such it is essentially a relation to lack; indeed, desire and lack are inextricably tied together. Lacan defines desire as the remainder that arises from the subtraction of need from demand:
