본문 바로가기
  • Home

The Implication of Desire: The Difference between Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan

  • 인문논총
  • 2021, 56(), pp.5-23
  • Publisher : Institute for Human studies, Kyungnam University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : August 28, 2021
  • Accepted : October 12, 2021
  • Published : October 31, 2021

SOON-HYANG HWANG 1

1경남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the theories of desire of Freud and Lacan have the opposite implication and reveals a logical basis for this argument through comparative and analytical examination of Freud and Lacan's concept of desire. In fact, Lacan is known to many critics as a theorist who inherits Freud's theory because of his motto, "Back to Freud," and his theory has been understood in terms of extending Freud's theory. However, from the perspective of rigorous analysis based on various criteria, Freud and Lacan's theories of desire have completely different implication on this human desire, represented by the Oedipus complex. Freud considers the desire for incest, in other words, ‘libido’ or ‘wish’, to constitute the Unconscious as a suppressed impulse to form civilization. But for Lacan, desire is a much broader and more abstract concept than either libido or wish in Freud. Lacanian desire means subject’s desire to follow the desire of the Other in the symbolic order, that is to say, the law of a society which suppresses and bans subject’s impulse to maintain the symbolic order. And also Lacanian desire means the discourse and desires of those around us, through which we internalize and inflect our own desire. For Lacan, the subject is not simply determined by structure. To become a subject, one must take a position in relation to the desire of the Other. As such, the implication of Freudian desire is in complete contrast to that of Lacanian desire.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.