Pleasure principle

Sigmund Freud

The pleasure principle is one of the "two principles of mental functioning" -- that is, one of the two principles that givern mental or psychical activity -- in addition to the reality principle.

Freud defines the pleasure principle as one of the "two principles of mental functioning" -- the other being the reality principle.

The pleasure principle is closely linked to the prohibition of incest

The pleasure principle is closely related to the prohibition of incest, the symbolic law and the regulation of desire.

The pleasure principle is "that which regulates the distance between the subject and das Ding.