Lacanian psychoanalysis is a way of understanding how our minds work, especially the parts we don’t notice — called the unconscious. A big idea is that the unconscious is structured like a language, which means it follows patterns, like grammar, and shows up in how we speak, dream, or make mistakes.
Another key idea is the mirror stage, which is when a baby sees themselves in a mirror and starts to feel like a “self,” even though that image is kind of a trick — it’s not the real, messy body, but a clean-looking version.
Lacan talks about three parts of our experience: the Imaginary (images and feelings), the Symbolic (rules, words, and social life), and the Real (things we can’t explain or put into words).
Our desire — wanting something more — comes from feeling like something is always missing. That missing piece is called objet petit a — it’s what makes us keep wanting.
And the Name-of-the-Father is a fancy term for the rules that tell us we can’t have everything we want. Lacan’s big point is that we’re all a bit split inside, and by understanding the way language and desire shape us, we can learn more about who we are.
See Also
- Mirror Stage in Lacanian Psychoanalysis
- The Imaginary in Lacanian Psychoanalysis
- The Symbolic in Lacanian Psychoanalysis
- The Real in Lacanian Psychoanalysis