Desire
is one of Lacan's central concepts and he employs it to describe the relation
formed upon entering the symbolic order or language. Lacan holds that
the first object in a baby's life is not just a source of satisfaction but also
of alienage and dissatisfaction and it will therefore remain forever as
something which cannot be symbolized (the "thing" which cannot be
identified with "the real"). This alienated experience, which
originates in an object, is internalized by the subject and becomes private and
intimate. Thus alienation and absence become the center of the subject. Lacan
explains alienation as the product of the initial necessity to be understood
and interpreted by others. The baby according to Lacan "suffers" a
long period of dependence in which he cannot sustain his own needs and is
dependent upon others. The baby therefore has to express his needs as a claim
of demand directed at the Other. By crying the baby signifies his needs and
appeals to the other which satisfies his needs. The other's presence therefore
takes on an importance for its own sake, and not just as something which
satisfies the baby's needs. The other is now love. The baby now cries not only
for food or attendance, but also to be loved which comes with the need to be
cared for. But the other cannot fully care for the baby, and cannot meet the
love demanded of him. And even when needs are met the demand directed towards
the other, that asking for love, remains unfulfilled. This insufficiency which
can never be fully satisfied is termed by Lacan as desire. Desire is primarily
a desire for love.
But
even though desire is a relation to something absent, Lacan hold that desire is
not necessarily negative. This lack, this absence of love embodies in desire is
what according to Lacan drives us for action, creation and recognition. Desire
is what drives us.
Suggested reading on Lacan:
Suggested reading on Lacan: