Jacques Lacan

Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst

Jacques Lacan was the Frenchman who took Freud, turned him upside down, mixed him with linguistics, philosophy and a touch of enigma, and delivered it all with an enigmatic smile. Born in Paris in 1901, he began as a psychiatrist, but soon realised that the unconscious was a much more entertaining field to explore.

He coined phrases as famous as they were confusing — such as ‘the unconscious is structured like a language’ — and left many people wondering if they needed analysis just to understand analysis. He was expelled from the Psychoanalytic Society for not following the classic script, and in response, he founded his own school, of course.

He invented concepts such as the ‘mirror stage,’ the ‘big Other,’ and the ‘object a,’ which still inhabit the imagination (and despair) of psychology students today. He died in 1981, but his legacy continues to challenge those who think the human mind can be explained with manuals. Spoiler: with Lacan, it can't.

Jacques Lacan

First Writings