In his later wrirings [[Freud]] posits the existence of two broad categories of [[life instinct]]s (''[[Lebenstriebe]]'', also known as "[[Eros]]") and [[death instinct]]s (''[[Todoestriebe]]'', sometimes known as ("[[Thanatos]]").
==Death Drive and Freud ==The [[death drive]] (French: ''[[pulsion de mort]]'') is first elaborated by [[Sigmund Freud]] in ''[[Beyond the Pleasure Principle]]'' (1920).Here [[Freud]] posits a basic opposition between the [[life drive]] (''[[Lebestriebe]]'' or ''[[Eros]]'') and the [[death drive]] (''[[Todestriebe]]'' or ''[[Thanatos]]'').The former are is concerned with the creation of cohesion and unity; the latter with the undoing of connections and the destruction of unity.According to [[Freud]], the [[death drive]] exhibits the tendency of all living beings to return to an inorganic state.All drives are regressive in that they seek to return to an earlier state or to recover a lost [[object]].Initially inward-directed, the death drive first manifests its existence in the human tendency to self-destruction; as it subsequently turns to the outside world, it takes the form of [[aggressivity|aggressive]] or destructive behavior.
The fusion theory of the two results death drive is, by Freud's own admission, speculative, and is grounded in the ddescriptions of the [[sadismcompulsion to repeat]].The fact that Freucd describes the death drive as 'silent' makes it difficult to supply concrete clinical evidence for its existence and the notion remains controversal, even though Freud continues to uphold it in his very last writings.Many post-Freudian analysts dismiss the notion of a death drive as mere speculation on Freud's part, but Klein adopts it whole-heartedly, regarding the tyranny of the early [[superego]] as it crushes the young child's [[ego]] as the first clinical manifestation of its power.(The concept of the death drive was one of the most controversial concepts introduced by Freud, and many of his disciples rejected it, but Freud continued to reaffirm the concept for the rest of his life. Of the non-Lacanian schools of psychoanalytic theory, only Kleinian psychoanalysis takes the concept seriously.)
==Death Drive and Lacan==
[[Jacques Lacan]] (following Freud) reaffirms the concept of the [[death drive]] as central to [[psychoanalysis]].
[[Lacan]] wrote: "to ignore the death instinct in his [Freud's] doctrine is to misunderstand that doctrine entirely."<ref>E, 301</ref>
====Return====In 1938, [[Lacan]] describes the [[death drive]] as a [[nostalgia]] for a [[lost harmony]], a [[desire]] to [[return]] to the [[preoedipal]] fusion with the [[mother]]'s [[breast]], the [[loss]] of which is marked on the [[psyche]] in the [[weaning complex]].<ref>Lacan, 1938: 35</ref>In 1946, [[Lacan]] associates the [[death drive]] with the [[suicide|suicidal tendency]] of [[narcissism]].<ref>Ec, 186</ref>In the 1950s, [[Lacan]] does not situate the [[death drive]] in the [[imaginary]] (despite its association with the [[preoedipal phase]] and [[narcissism]]), but rather in the [[symbolic]].In the 1954-5 seminar, ''[[The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis]]'', Lacan states that the [[death drive]] is simply the fundamental tendency of the [[symbolic]] [[order]] to produce [[repetition]]."The death instinct is only the mask of the symbolic order."<ref>S2, 326</ref>
All ==Death Drive and Biology==For Freud, the [[death drive]]s are regressive in that they seek to return to an earlier state or to recover a lost was closely bound up with [[biology]].[[objectLacan]], and situates the [[death drive]] expresses in the tendency[[symbolic]].[[Lacan]] articulates it with culture rather than nature.[[Lacan]] states that the death drive "is not a question of biology."<ref>E, which 102</ref> The [[death drive]] is said not the [[biology|biological]] [[instinct]] to be found in all living beings, return to annul all tension by reverting to an inorganic statethe inanimate.<ref>S7, 211-12</ref>
Initially inward-directed, ==Death Drive and Drives==Another difference between Lacan's concept of the [[death drive]]and Freud's first manfiest their existence emerges in 1964.Freud opposed the human tenency to self-destruction; as they subsequently turn death drive to the outside world, they take sexual drives.[[Lacan]] rejects Freud's thesis of a duality of life and death drives.[[Lacan]] argues that the form [[death drive]] is an aspect of every [[drive]].The [[death drive]] is an aspect of aggressive or destructive behaviorevery [[drive]].
"The distinction between the life drive and the death drive is - true in as much as it manifests two aspects of the drive."<ref>gl 20</ref>
===[[Lacan]] writes that "every drive is virtually a death drive;"<ref>Ec, 844</ref> because# every [[drive]] pursues its own extinction, # every [[drive]] involves the subject in [[repetition]], and # every [[drive]] is an attempt to go [[beyond the pleasure principle]], to the realm of [[excess jouissance]] where enjoyment is experienced as suffering.
The theory of the death drive isstrives, by Freudin Lacan's own admission, speculativeview, to go beyond the [[pleasure principle]] and is groundedn in descriptions to attain the painful joys of the compulsion to repeat[[jouissance]].
The fact that Freud describes the death drive as "silent" makes it difficult to supply concrete clinical evidence for its existence and the notion remains contrversial, even though Freud continues to uphold it in his very last writings.==See Also==* [[Death]]* [[Drive]]
Many post==Look Up==<ref>3, 1, 64-Freudian analysts mismis the notion of a death drive as mere speculation on freud's part5, 94, 135 Conversations.</ref>
lacan tends t reject freud's thesis of a duality of life and death drives, arugin tthat the death drive is an aspect or component of all drives.==References==<references/>
the death drive strives, in lacna's view, to go beyondd the pp and to attain the painful joys ofo jouissance==Beyond the Pleasure Principle== In ''[[Beyond the Pleasure PrincipleCategory:Terms]]'' (1920), [[Sigmund FreudCategory:Psychoanalysis]] introduces the concept of the [[death driveCategory:Concepts]]. The concept of the [[death driveCategory:Freudian psychology]] was first articulated by [[Sigmund Freud]] in ''[[Beyond the Pleasure PrincipleCategory:Real]]'' (1920). [[Category:DictionaryJacques Lacan]]
