Skip to main content

In the Name of Desire: A Reading of Lacan’s “Demand and Desire in the Oral and Anal Stage”—Commentary on Session XIV

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Reading Lacan’s Seminar VIII

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Lacan Series ((PALS))

Abstract

This commentary analyzes how Lacan criticizes ego-psychologists for having turned Freud’s approach to psychoanalysis into a form of “therapeutical abuse” in which the analyst is supposed to adopt a parental position in regard to the patient, and the patient a loving position in regard to the analyst. Opposing this normative trend, Lacan suggests in “Demand and Desire in the Oral and Anal Stage” that the role of the analyst is not to repress the patient’s desire in the name of the satisfaction of its needs but, on the contrary, to help the patient retrieve their desire against what is normally supporting its erasure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abraham, Karl. 1927. “A Short Study of the Development of the Libido, Viewed in the Light of Mental Disorders.” In Selected Papers. London: Hogarth Press, 442–453.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, Anna. 1936. The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. Standard Ed., Vol. 1. London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1971. “Problem of Termination in Child Analysis.” Problem of Psychoanalytic Technique and Therapy, Vol. 7. London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, Sigmund. 1955. “A Child Is Being Beaten.” Standard Ed., Vol. 17 (1917–1919). Trans. by James Strachey. London, Hogarth Press, 175–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1957. Standard Edition, XIV, Papers on Metapsychology. Standard Ed. Trans. James Strachey. London: Hogarth Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1961. Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Trans. James Strachey. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. The 1905 Ed. Trans. Herman Westerink and Haute P. Van. Brooklyn: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartmann, Heinz. 1939. Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation. New York: International University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacan, Jacques. 2013. Le Séminaire de Jacques Lacan Livre VI, Le désir et son interpretation. Edited by Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: La martinière Edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. Transference: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book VIII. Edited by Jacques-Alain Miller and Translated by Bruce Fink. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book V, Formations of the Unconscious. Edited by Jacques-Alain Miller and Translated by Russell Grigg. Malden: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Baitinger, F.C. (2020). In the Name of Desire: A Reading of Lacan’s “Demand and Desire in the Oral and Anal Stage”—Commentary on Session XIV. In: Basu Thakur, G., Dickstein, J. (eds) Reading Lacan’s Seminar VIII. The Palgrave Lacan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32742-2_13

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics