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"[[Libido]]" ([[Fr]]. ''[[libido]]'')
==Sigmund Freud==
[[Freud]] conceives of the [[libido]] as a quantitative (or "economic") concept: it is an energy which can increase or descrease, and which can be displaced.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. SE XVIII. 1921c. p.90.</ref>
[[Freud]] insisted on the [[sexual]] nature of this energy, and throughout his [[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]] he maintained a dualism in which the [[libido]] is opposed to another (non-sexual) form of energy.
===Carl Jung===
[[Jung]] opposed this dualism, positing a single form of life-energy which is neutral in character, and proposed that this energy be denoted by the term "[[libido]]."
==Jacques Lacan==
[[Lacan]] rejects [[Jung]]'s monism and reaffirms [[Freud]]'s dualism.<ref>{{S1}} p.119-20</ref>
He argues, with [[Freud]], that the [[libido]] is exclusively [[sexual]].
[[Lacan]] also follows [[Freud]] in affirming that the [[libido]] is exclusively [[masculine]].<ref>{{E}} p.291</ref>
<blockquote>"Libido and the ego are on the same side. Narcissism is libidinal."<ref>{{S2}} p.326</ref></blockquote>
From 1964 on, however, there is a shift to articulating the [[libido]] more with the [[real]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.848-9</ref>
However, in general [[Lacan]] does not use the term "[[libido]]" anywhere near as frequently as [[Freud]], preferring to reconceptualize sexual energy in terms of ''[[jouissance]]''.
==See Also==
* ''[[Jouissance]]''
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
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The term '[[libido]]', from the [[Latin]] word for 'desire' or 'lust', is used in [[psychoanalysis]] to describe the (psychic) mental energy generated by the stimulation of [[erogenous zones]] such as the [[mouth]], the [[breasts]], the [[anus]] or the [[genitals]].
[[Libido]] is a specifically sexual energy.
