Lacan's Extimité: The Intimate Strangeness of Animals and Us

Felice Cimatti and Anita Romanello explore the concept of 'extimité' (extimacy) as theorized by Jacques Lacan, applying it to the human-animal relationship. The term describes an intimate connection with something that remains utterly foreign, like the unconscious. For psychoanalysis, the subject is merely a superficial layer of the unconscious; the ego is not a part of the unconscious but rather the unconscious, in its outermost stratum, 'has' the ego. This relationship is simultaneously extremely intimate and absolutely alien. The article, published on doppiozero on June 18, 2026, uses this framework to examine how humans relate to animals, who are both intimately close and radically other. The text delves into the paradox of being intimately connected to something that fundamentally escapes understanding.