ABSTRACT
Jacques Lacan's concept of the desire of the analyst is both very specific and highly hybrid. The desire of the analyst during psychoanalysis is supposed to be the result of an analysis that proved to be didactic. An exploration of the desire of the analyst first of all brings us to Sigmund Freud's desire. Lacan's concept of the desire of the analyst is thus at once reminiscent of and running counter to Freud. The desire of the analyst has only one object, namely desire itself. Therefore, Lacan's reference to Freud's search for desire constitutes the only Freudian source of the 'desire of the analyst.' Lacan's concept of the desire of the analyst can be regarded as his alternative for the demand to become an analyst. Elaborating the interpretation of the desire of the analyst — as the end of the training analysis — requires an investigation of the function of desire in Lacan's theory.
