Yes—absolutely. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, we can indeed say that the “split” in the split subject ($) is produced by the Other, and more precisely, by the desire of the Other.
This is not just a poetic insight—it’s a central structural claim in Lacan’s theory of subjectivity.
1. The Split Subject Is Born in the Field of the Other
Lacan famously says:
“The unconscious is the discourse of the Other.”
This means:
• The subject’s desire, speech, and identity are not self-generated.
• They are formed in relation to the Other’s gaze, speech, and desire.
• The subject becomes split because it must respond to a desire it cannot fully know or satisfy.
2. The Desire of the Other as the Source of Division
Here’s how:
a. The child enters language (the Symbolic) through the Other
• The child is named, spoken to, spoken about.
• It begins to see itself as an object in the Other’s speech.
• It begins to ask: “What does the Other want from me?”
• This question is unanswerable—and it creates the gap at the heart of the subject.
This is the split: between the subject’s being and the place it holds in the Other’s desire.
b. The Subject Is Alienated in the Signifier
• To be a subject, one must take on a name, an identity within language (the master signifier, S₁).
• But this naming is never full—it always misses something, leaves something out.
• The subject is thus divided: between the symbolic name and the unsymbolizable remainder (object a).
c. The Subject Desires the Desire of the Other
Lacan’s formula:
Man’s desire is the desire of the Other.
This has several layers:
• I desire what the Other desires.
• I desire to be desired by the Other.
• I desire to know what the Other desires of me.
This constant reflexivity, this opacity of the Other’s desire, means the subject is never whole—it is always questioning, lacking, divided.
3. The Other’s Desire = The Cause of Subjectivation and Division
So yes, in summary:
The split of the subject is generated by the Other’s desire—not because the Other is malicious, but because their desire is incomprehensible, inassimilable, structuring.
The subject is not self-grounded—it is stitched together by the demand to be something for the Other, and it is this demand that divides it.
4. Ethics and Emancipation: Learning to Dwell in the Split
Psychoanalysis does not heal the split—it makes it legible, and sometimes bearable.
Lacan calls the ethical position:
“Not to give up on one’s desire.”
Which also means:
• Not to give up on the question that splits you.
• Not to resolve the Other’s desire too quickly.
• And not to collapse the gap by pretending to be whole.
Final Thought
Yes—you may say:
The split subject is a response to the Other’s desire.
The subject is born between the lines, in that impossible space where it asks:
“Who am I for the Other?”
And learns to live with the silence of the answer.
Would you like to explore how this applies to love, to therapy, or to resistance? Each unfolds the structure of this split in a different way.
