Partial drives
In psychoanalysis, the partial drives (German: Partialtriebe; French: pulsions partielles) designate the fundamental components of the drive that are not subordinated to genital reproduction or biological function. Introduced by **:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}** and later structurally reformulated by **:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}**, the concept of partial drives is central to psychoanalytic theories of sexuality, desire, and subject formation.
Partial drives are termed “partial” not because they are incomplete or immature, but because each is organized around a specific bodily zone and mode of satisfaction rather than a unified sexual aim. They persist throughout life and continue to structure fantasy, symptom formation, and enjoyment (jouissance) well beyond childhood. In this sense, so-called “adult” sexuality is not the replacement of partial drives by genital sexuality, but their reorganization within a symbolic framework.
The theory of partial drives marks a decisive break with biological and moral accounts of sexuality. It establishes sexuality as fundamentally non-natural, fragmented, and structured by repetition rather than by instinctual harmony.
Freud’s Theory of the Partial Drives
Drives and Infantile Sexuality
Freud introduces the concept of partial drives most explicitly in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905). Against prevailing medical and moral doctrines, Freud argues that sexuality is present from the beginning of life and is not oriented toward reproduction.[1]
Infantile sexuality is composed of multiple component drives that operate independently of one another. These drives attach to different bodily zones (mouth, anus, eyes, ears) and derive satisfaction from activities such as sucking, expelling, looking, and calling. Freud emphasizes that these activities are sexual insofar as they produce pleasure beyond the satisfaction of biological need.
Partial Drives and Polymorphous Perversity
Freud’s concept of partial drives is inseparable from his notion of polymorphous perversity. Because infantile sexuality is composed of multiple independent drives, it has no predetermined natural order. Any bodily zone may become erotically invested, and any activity may serve as a source of enjoyment.
This claim undermines the idea that perversion represents a deviation from natural sexuality. On the contrary, Freud argues that what is later classified as perverse is structurally present at the origin of sexual life. Normal sexuality is therefore not primary but the result of a complex developmental process involving repression, sublimation, and identification.
Activity, Passivity, and Reversal
A defining feature of partial drives is the reversibility of activity and passivity. In Instincts and Their Vicissitudes (1915), Freud demonstrates that drives can reverse their aim: active positions (e.g., looking, expelling) can be transformed into passive ones (being looked at, being expelled) without altering the underlying libidinal structure.[2]
This reversibility shows that partial drives are not tied to fixed behaviors or roles. Instead, they are defined by circuits of satisfaction that can be occupied from different positions.
Types of Partial Drives
Freud identifies several principal partial drives, later systematized by Lacan:
- Oral drive – organized around sucking, biting, and incorporation.
- Anal drive – organized around retention, expulsion, and control.
- Scopic drive – organized around looking and being looked at.
- Invocatory drive – organized around calling, hearing, and being heard.
These drives are not stages that disappear, but structural dimensions that persist and overlap throughout psychic life.
Lacan’s Reformulation of the Partial Drives
Drive as Circuit
Lacan radically reformulates Freud’s theory by emphasizing that the drive is not oriented toward an object to be attained, but toward a circular movement that returns to its point of departure. The drive does not seek satisfaction by reaching a goal; it finds satisfaction in the repetition of its circuit.
In this sense, partial drives are paradigmatic of the drive as such. Each partial drive traces a specific circuit around a bodily zone and a lost object, producing enjoyment through repetition rather than fulfillment.
Object a and the Partial Drives
A decisive innovation in Lacan’s theory is the introduction of object a, which he identifies as the object-cause of desire. Object $a$ is not an empirical object, but the remainder produced by the subject’s entry into language and the symbolic order.
Each partial drive corresponds to a specific form of object $a$:
- the oral drive → the breast,
- the anal drive → feces,
- the scopic drive → the gaze,
- the invocatory drive → the voice.
These objects are not biological things but structural functions. They mark the point of loss around which the drive circulates and through which jouissance is produced.
Partial Drives and the Body
For Lacan, the body involved in the drives is not the biological organism but the erogenous body—a body carved by language and signification. Partial drives map the body according to zones of enjoyment rather than anatomical function.
This perspective explains why drives can detach from biological utility and persist in symptoms, fantasies, and cultural formations.
Partial Drives, Fantasy, and Desire
Partial drives are inseparable from fantasy. Fantasy provides the structural support that allows the subject to situate himself in relation to object $a$. The standard matheme of fantasy is written as:
In this formula, the barred subject ($) relates to object $a$ as the cause of desire. Partial drives supply the concrete forms through which object $a$ is embodied and through which desire is sustained.
Fantasy regulates the potentially overwhelming enjoyment of the drives by framing it within a narrative or scenario. Without fantasy, the drive would risk becoming invasive or unmanageable.
Partial Drives and Clinical Structures
Neurosis
In neurosis, partial drives are subject to repression and displacement. Enjoyment is redirected into symptoms, inhibitions, or compromise formations. Each neurotic structure privileges certain drives over others, but no drive is ever eliminated.
Analytic work aims to make the functioning of the partial drives legible within the subject’s discourse, rather than to suppress them.
Perversion
In perversion, the subject adopts a specific position with respect to the partial drives, often identifying directly with object $a$. Rather than repressing the drive, the perverse subject may stage it in a controlled manner, positioning himself as the instrument of the Other’s enjoyment.
This position illustrates that perversion is not defined by particular acts but by a structural relation to the drives.
Psychosis
In psychosis, symbolic mediation of the partial drives may be compromised. Drives can appear in an unregulated or invasive form, as seen in phenomena such as hallucinations (invocatory drive) or intrusive gazes (scopic drive).
These clinical phenomena underscore the importance of symbolic organization in regulating the drives.
Ethical and Theoretical Implications
The theory of partial drives has major ethical implications for psychoanalysis. Because drives are not natural instincts to be normalized or eradicated, psychoanalysis cannot adopt an adaptive or moralizing stance toward enjoyment.
Instead, the analytic ethic consists in allowing the subject to articulate his relation to the drives and to assume responsibility for his mode of enjoyment, without prescribing norms of satisfaction.
Conclusion
The concept of partial drives is one of the most radical contributions of psychoanalysis. From Freud’s discovery of infantile sexuality to Lacan’s structural theory of the drive, partial drives demonstrate that sexuality is fragmented, repetitive, and irreducible to biological function.
By showing that enjoyment is organized around loss and repetition rather than natural fulfillment, the theory of partial drives remains indispensable for understanding desire, fantasy, and clinical structures in psychoanalysis.
See also
References
- ↑ Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. VII (London: Hogarth Press, 1953), pp. 123–246.
- ↑ Sigmund Freud, “Instincts and Their Vicissitudes” (1915), in Standard Edition, Vol. XIV (London: Hogarth Press, 1957), pp. 117–140.