Lacan, the Subject and Desire: Deciphering Jacques Lacan's Structure of the Psyche

Introduction

Imagine that your innermost being – that which you perceive as ‘I’ – was not originally yours. Not the product of self-determination or an inner core of being, but the result of structure, language and social inscription. So who is it that speaks when you say ‘I’? This is precisely where Jacques Lacan's radical psychoanalysis comes in – with the unsettling but liberating thesis that the subject is not simply there, but is produced by something else: by language, by the desire of the other, by the network of signifiers that surrounds you even before you speak a word.

In today's psychology, the idea that the self is a centre of consciousness, intention and control often still prevails. Lacan strongly disagrees with this image: the subject is fragmented, it is an effect. It is formed in the interplay of mirror images, names, attributions – and in the symbolic order that pre-structures us. This perspective may sound unusual, but it has enormous analytical power: it shows why we are strangers to ourselves, why we desire what we don't have – and why we are ourselves precisely in our brokenness.

In this second part of Lacan's thinking, you will learn:

• Why the subject is not original, but made

• How desire is linked to lack, language and the symbolic order

• what it means that the unconscious is ‘structured like a language’

• and why psychoanalytic practice is not a quest for authenticity, but a way of working at the site of the split.

If you have not yet read the first part, you can find it here: in the concept of psychoanalytic discussion. Jacques Lacan's Psychoanalysis: Unconscious, Mirror Stage, Language and Subject Formation.

Lacan turns our usual self-image on its head. He claims that the subject is not the origin of speech, but an effect – produced by desire, by signifiers, by the symbolic order of language.

Lacan: A rethink in psychoanalysis

Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) did not simply call for a ‘return to Freud’ – he brought a completely new understanding of subjectivity to psychoanalysis. What appeared as inner conflict in Sigmund Freud's work appears as linguistically structured space in Lacan's.

The French psychoanalyst adopted central concepts from Ferdinand de Saussure. Crucial for Lacan is the distinction between signifier and signified – it is not what a word refers to that is central, but the word itself. The difference between the signs is what makes meaning possible in the first place.

That is why the unconscious is not a secret place either – it is an effect of language. Or as Lacan puts it: ‘The unconscious is structured like a language.’

Subject: effect, not origin

In Lacan's thinking, the subject is not created by self-observation or inner growth – but by splitting. There is no unified ‘I’. Rather, what we call the self arises in the mirror stage – in the encounter with an image of oneself.

This image seems whole – but it is an illusion. It represents an imaginary unity that separates the child from its fragmented bodily experience and radicalises desire. This difference remains and makes the subject a split being.

The subject thus becomes:

• formed by signifiers

• Located in the symbolic order, desire is constituted by language.

• moved by the desire of the other

What we say is never entirely ‘ours’ – we speak out of a structure that speaks through us even before we speak.

Desire: What we lack moves us

Desire is not a wish. Nor is it a need. For Lacan, desire is a structural result – it arises where something is missing in the symbolic space.

Lacan calls this gap the ‘small a object’. It is the object of desire – unattainable, intangible, but nevertheless the central driving force of the subject.

Desire means wanting what the other person lacks – or what is demanded of us. It is never entirely ours. It is shifted, relocated, never fully articulable. That is precisely why it repeats itself. And drives us.

Psychoanalysis with Jacques Lacan: structure instead of depth

In psychoanalytic practice, Lacan shifts the focus: the aim is not to bring hidden content to light, but to decipher structures.

Technique of structural psychoanalysis

The technique of psychoanalysis is based on:

• the structure of the unconscious

• the effect of the signifier

• the meaning of metonymy and displacement

Meaning is not in what is said, but in making it sayable, in what is missing, in what is left out. The goal: subverting desire in the concept of psychoanalytic theory. What does that mean? An analysis that does not fulfil desire, but rather exposes its structure – and introduces the human being to his own enigma.

Freud reloaded: Lacan's radical turn

Jacques Lacan sees himself as being in the tradition of Freud – but his reading is radical. While Freud conceives of the unconscious as a place of unresolved memories, Lacan regards it as a structure.

This structure is not internal, but linguistic. It is not about content, but about relations: between signs, between speech acts, between desire and law. The unconscious speaks – in the order of language.

This interpretation makes psychoanalysis accessible to philosophy, literature, cultural criticism – and to social self-reflection.

The symbolic: structure and law

The subject exists in a field: the symbolic. Here, the law – language – rules. It is the place of rules, prohibitions, structure. The subject enters here – and loses its imaginary wholeness.

Three registers in Lacan

• Imaginary: images, mirrors, identifications

• Symbolic: language, law, order

• Real: that which eludes meaning

Desire lives in the symbolic – but so does the law of the father, which means inscription. This is where responsibility begins, but so does guilt.

The unconscious as language: not depth, but surface

The unconscious is not a dark well. It is a grammar. Dreams, symptoms, slips of the tongue – they all follow linguistic rules: metonymy, metaphor, displacement.

This means that psychoanalysis is a form of reading. You have to learn to read what the unconscious is saying – not in terms of content, but in terms of structure. Lacan says: ‘The subject is what one signifier represents for another.’

Mirror stage: the origin of the self?

The mirror stage marks the first split in the subject. The child sees itself – but recognises itself in the mirror image not as a fragment, but as a unity. This unity is false – but necessary.

This first identification is an illusion. But it becomes the basis for later self-images. The self is therefore:

• a construction

• an illusion

• but a structuring illusion

Psychoanalysis does not aim to destroy this ego – but to make it transparent. To show where it lies, where it hides, where it speaks when it wants to remain silent.

Ego psychology vs. Lacanian structural thinking

While ego psychology aims to strengthen the ego, Lacan questions it. He sees the ego as a narcissistic formation – a formation in the imaginary. It protects, but it deceives. It cannot grasp desire – it can only circle around it.

Therefore, Lacan does not advocate self-optimisation – but self-decipherment. Not control, but interpretation.

Slavoj Žižek: Lacan for the present

The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek is one of the most prominent interpreters of Lacan. He shows how Lacan's thinking not only belongs on the couch, but also in society. In films, in politics, in ideology.

Žižek makes it clear that the unconscious speaks not only in the subject, but also in culture, language and power. Lacan's thinking is therefore not closed, but current. And analytically fruitful.

Conclusion: learning to read desire

Deciphering Lacan means learning to read one's own desires. This involves confronting the uncomfortable realisation that what we believe to be our true selves has in fact been shaped by language, symbols and the expectations of others.

The subject is not an autonomous centre, but a trace – a void that circulates through signifiers and is constituted by the structure of language. It is an effect of the symbolic order, embedded in a structure that precedes and outlasts us. When Lacan says that the unconscious has no depth, but a syntax, he means that what we perceive as internal and unique is in fact linguistically formatted, structurally mediated and thus legible – but not fully controllable.

This perspective also changes what we can expect from psychotherapy. It is not about returning to a lost origin, not about healing in the classical sense. Rather, it is about confronting one's own lack – that which is never quite tangible, but still has an effect. Desire is not what we consciously want, but what drives us again and again, without us ever being able to fully express it.

Lacan's approach does not offer any easy truths, but rather a practice of precise uncertainty. One that recognises that the search for meaning does not lead to the resolution of the mystery, but to a finer language with which we can read it. Those who engage with it do not encounter themselves as a self-contained ego – but as an open process.

Perhaps this is the most honest form of self-encounter that psychoanalysis can offer.

If you would like to learn more about psychoanalytic concepts and their significance in everyday life, you will find further content in our article What is the significance of the unconscious in psychoanalysis? or in the text What is a narcissistic personality?.

Glossary of key terms

Desire (désir) – In Lacan's work, this is a structural phenomenon that should not be confused with mere wishes or needs. It arises where language excludes something. Desire is an effect of the lack that arises when entering the symbolic order. The Real – That which eludes all symbolisation. It stands outside of language and the imaginary and only appears as a disturbance – for example, in the symptom. Law of the Father – Symbol for the prohibitive principle that structures desire. It stands for the introduction of the subject into the symbolic order through the prohibition of incest. Castration – Not understood as a real process, but as a symbolic loss: the introduction of a lack that makes desire possible in the first place. Object petit a (petit a object) – The inaccessible object of desire. It is a missing object that drives the subject, but can never be fully attained. It represents the loss that accompanies every subjectification. Signifier – A phonetic or written expression that acquires meaning in the system of language. For Lacan, signifiers structure the unconscious. Mirror stage – A phase in early development in which the child first recognises itself as a unit in the mirror. This image becomes the first ego ideal, but is also the source of a narcissistic illusion. Structural psychoanalysis – A school of psychoanalysis developed by Lacan that reads Freud through structuralist methods, particularly by drawing on linguistics, semiotics, and topology. Symbolic order – The structure of language, law, and social norms. It shapes the subject and provides the framework within which meaning and identity are constructed.

FAQ

Who was Jacques Lacan? A French psychoanalyst who combined Freudian thinking with structuralist theory. He influenced 20th-century psychoanalysis like no other – through his seminars, his language, his train of thought. How does Lacan differ from Freud? Lacan radicalised Freud's discovery of the unconscious: not drives, but language forms the subject. He shifted psychoanalysis from the physical to the symbolic – from the id to the signifier. What does Lacan mean by ‘returning to Freud’? Lacan calls for a return to the radical, language-centred aspects of Freud's work – in particular to the unconscious as a place of symbolisation and displacement. What is meant by structural psychoanalysis? A reading of psychoanalysis that focuses not on content but on structures: language, difference, law. Lacan's structural psychoanalysis is paradigmatic here. What does ‘the unconscious is structured like a language’ mean? Lacan says this so that the unconscious is not a chaotic chamber of drives, but functions according to rules – like a language system. Symptoms, dreams, and slip-ups follow the logic of metaphor and metonymy. What is the unconscious? It is a structure of signifiers. It does not function irrationally, but according to rules – similar to language. The unconscious speaks. How does language structure the unconscious? Language organises the unconscious like a grammar. There are repetitions, displacements, substitutions – processes that show up in dreams, slips of the tongue and symptoms. How can it be shown that the subject is determined by language? Because the unconscious consists of language. Our symptoms, desires and fears articulate themselves in signifiers that we do not control, but by which we show ourselves. What is the subject in Lacan's theory? The subject is not an autonomous ego, but the result of a split that occurs between signifiers. It is what one signifier represents for another. What does the mirror image mean for the subject? In the mirror stage, the child recognises itself for the first time as a totality – an imaginary unity that shapes the later ego ideal and at the same time alienates the subject from the real body. What does the mirror stage mean in Lacan's theory? The mirror stage is an early moment in which the child recognises itself as a whole in the mirror – this creates a first idea of the self, but it remains imaginary. It forms the basis of narcissistic identity. What does the symbolic mean in Lacan's theory? It is the order of language, of the law, of names. The symbolic is the place where the subject finds its place – mediated by the law of the father. What does Lacan mean by the ‘law of the father’? The law of the father stands for the prohibition of incest and marks entry into the symbolic order. It refers to the law that regulates desire. What does castration mean in Lacan? Castration is symbolic of the loss that the subject suffers when entering into language. This loss is a condition for desire and the symbolic order. What does ‘desire’ mean in Lacanian psychoanalysis? Desire arises where the need is linguistically filtered and cannot be fully articulated. It is never satisfied, because it aims at an object that is structurally absent – the object small a. What does the ‘object small a’ mean? The object small a is what is missing in the symbolic system, but still drives the subject's desire. It is a void that keeps the subject in motion. Why is desire so central? Because it structures the subject. Without desire, there would be no movement, no language, no symptoms. Desire shows where something is missing – and makes the subject work on it. Why, according to Lacan, is there no sexual relationship? Because two subjects can never fully meet symbolically. Desire is not complementary – it is asymmetrical, displaced and shaped by the lack of a common code. And what about the recognition of desire? Recognition does not mean fulfilment. Desire remains insatiable. But it can be heard, read, interpreted – in analysis. This recognition means: I don't have to fulfil my desire, but I can give it a place. What is the goal of psychoanalysis according to Lacan? Not healing in the conventional sense, but a re-localisation of the subject in his own desire – through the recognition of the symbolic structure that has shaped it. If the subject is a loss, how is it possible to access oneself? It is precisely in the loss that access is opened up: through the recognition of absence, of lack, of division. The subject does not recognise itself in a stable ego, but in the fissure between the signifiers. How does Lacan criticise ego psychology? He does not see the ego as a source of truth, but as an imaginary formation. He argues that ego psychology fails to recognise the symbolic basis of subjectivity and reduces the human being to adaptation. What is the relevance of Lacan's psychoanalysis today? In a world that demands self-optimisation, Lacan reminds us that the human being is not controllable, not efficient, not complete. This makes his theory highly relevant for therapy, cultural criticism and social analysis today.