==Jacques Lacan==
For [[Lacan]]the [[pleasure principle]] is an obstacle to ''[[jouissance]]' that takes the [[subject]] to that extreme point where the erotic borders upon [[death]] and where [[subjectivity]] risks extinction.
The [[pleasure principle]] is an obstacle to ''[[jouissance]]'' that takes the [[subject]] to that extreme point where the erotic borders upon [[death]] and where [[subjectivity]] risks extinction. 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]]''.
In [[Chronology|1960]], [[Lacan]] develops an important opposition between [[pleasure]] and ''[[jouissance]]''.
''[[Jouissance]]'' is an excessive quanitity of excitation which the [[pleasure principle]] tries to prevent.
The [[pleasure principle]] is a [[symbolic law]] The [[pleasure principle]] is a commandment -- which can be phrased -- "Enjoy as little as possible." Pleasure is a safe
<blockquote>The function of the pleasure principle is, in effect, to lead the subject from signifier to signifier, by generating as amny signifiers as are required to maintain at as low a level as possible the tension that regulates the whole functioning of the psychic apparatus.<ref>{{S7}} p.119</ref></blockquote>
The "[[pleasure principle]]" and the "[[reality principle]]" are two psychoanalytical terms coined by Sigmund Freud.
The [[pleasure principle]] governs the functioning of the [[primary process]]
[[Lacan]] describes the [[pleasure principle]] in the [[seminar]] of 1954-5.<ref>{{L}} [[Seminar II]].
"[[Seminar II|Le moi dans la théorie de Freud et dans la technique de la psychanalyse]]." (The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis.) 1954-5. Unpublished.</ref>
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In psychoanalysis, the demand that an instinctive need (usually sexual or aggressive) be gratified, regardless of the social or practical consequences. Sigmund Freud held that the id was dominated totally by the pleasure principle, but that, with the development of the ego and superego, individuals become aware of the demands of social reality (the reality principle), and thereby learn to temper and regulate their quest for pleasure.
The pleasure principle and the reality principle are two psychoanalytical terms coined by Sigmund Freud.
Respectively, the desire for immediate gratification versus the deferral of that gratification. Quite simply, the pleasure principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. However, as one matures, one begins to learn the need sometimes to endure pain and to defer gratification because of the exigencies and obstacles of reality: "An ego thus educated has become reasonable; it no longer lets itself be governed by the pleasure principle, but obeys the reality principle, which also at bottom seeks to obtain pleasure, but pleasure which is assured through taking account of reality, even though it is pleasure postponed and diminished" (Sigmund Freud, Introductory Lectures 16.357).
