Lacan, Jacques

Jacques Lacan was a French psychoanalyst whose work reinterpreted Freud’s ideas, emphasizing language and the unconscious. He believed our sense of self is shaped through language and social interactions, and that the unconscious is structured like a language. Lacan introduced concepts like the "Mirror Stage," where infants recognize themselves, and the idea of the "Big Other," representing societal norms and expectations. His theories explore how desire, identity, and the human experience are influenced by unconscious processes and symbolic systems, making psychoanalysis more about understanding how language and culture shape our inner worlds.