Desire sits at the centre of Lacanian psychoanalysis not as a passing want, but as a structuring force that shapes how subjects come into being. In this episode, William Gomes offers a measured and careful exploration of desire as something that precedes conscious intention and continues to operate beyond satisfaction. Desire is not framed as a problem to be solved, but as a condition of human life.
The episode traces how desire forms through language and relationship, emerging from lack rather than fulfilment. William reflects on why desire remains unresolved and why this unresolved quality is not a failure of the subject, but its defining feature. Desire moves through relationships, shaping attachment, conflict, and longing, while never fully settling into the objects it appears to seek.
There is particular attention to how identity itself is organised around desire. Rather than seeing the self as stable or complete, the episode invites listeners to consider subjectivity as something continually negotiated through what is wanted, missed, and deferred. Desire is shown to be inseparable from how people recognise themselves and others, and from how meaning is formed over time.
Throughout, the discussion remains grounded and restrained, avoiding abstraction for its own sake. Desire is presented not as a theoretical curiosity, but as essential to understanding human motivation, intimacy, and dissatisfaction. The episode offers a thoughtful account of why psychoanalysis insists on desire as central, and why attempts to eliminate or master it often miss what it means to be human.
Listen to the Episode
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fPd1rFkL2AVMW9jPLhzP4?si=1c6127d541bb4167
