Difference between revisions of "Death drive"

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3, 1, 64-5, 94, 135 Conversations.
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==Death Drive and Freud ==
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[[Sigmund Freud]] articulated the concept of the [[death drive]] (Fr. ''pulsion de mort'') in ''[[Beyond the Pleasure Principle]]''. <ref>1920g</ref>
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In this work he asserts a fundamental opposition between [[life drives]] ([[eros]]) - associated with [[cohesion]] and [[unity]] - and the [[death drives]] - associated with [[destruction]] and [[fragmentation]].<ref>Freud 1930a: Se XXI, 120</ref>
  
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(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.)
  
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[[Category:Terms]]
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==Death Drive and Lacan==
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Jacques Lacan]] (following Freud) reaffirms the concept of the [[death drive]] as central to [[psychoanalysis]].  He wrote: "to ignore the death instinct in his [Freud's] doctrine is to misunderstand that doctrine entirely."<ref>E, 301</ref>
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[[Category:Concepts]]
 
  
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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>
  
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In 1946, Lacan associates the [[death drive]] with the [[suicide|suicidal tendency]] of [[narcissism]].<ref>Ec, 186</ref>
  
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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]].
  
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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]].
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"The death instinct is only the mask of the symbolic order."<ref>S2, 326</ref>
  
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==Death Drive and Biology==
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For Freud, the [[death drive]] was closely bound up with [[biology]], representing the fundamental tendency of every living thing to return to an inorganic state.
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By situating the death drive firmly in the symbolic, Lacan articulates it with culture rather than nature; he states that the death drive "is not a question of bjolog,"<ref>E, 102</ref> and must be distinguished from the biological instinct to return to the inanimate.<ref>S7, 211-12</ref>
  
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death drive (pulsion de mort)                      Although intimations of the concept of
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==Death Drive and Drives==
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Another difference between Lacan's concept of the death drive and Freud's emerges in 1964. Freud opposed the death drive to the sexual drives, but now
 +
Lacan argues that the death drive is not a separate drive, but is in fact an aspect - of every DRIVE.
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"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>
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Hence Lacan writes that "every drive is virtually a death drive;"<ref>Ec, 844</ref> because
 +
# every drive pursues its own extinction,
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# every drive involves the subject in repetition, and
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# every drive is an attempt to go [[beyond the pleasure principle]], to the realm of [[excess jouissance]] where enjoyment is experienced as suffering.
  
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  the death drive (Todestrieb) can be found early on in Freud's work, it was only
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==See Also==
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* [[Death]]
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* [[Drive]]
  
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  in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920g) that the concept was fully articu-
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==References==
 +
<references/>
  
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  lated. In this work Freud established a fundamental opposition between life
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3, 1, 64-5, 94, 135 Conversations.
  
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  drives (eros), conceived of as a tendency towards cohesion and unity, and the
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[[Category:Terms]]
−
 
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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  death drives, which operate in the opposite direction, undoing connections and
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[[Category:Concepts]]
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destroying things. However, the life drives and the death drives are never
 
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  found in a pure state, but always mixed/fused together in differing proportions.
 
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Indeed, Freud argued that were it not for this fusion with erotism, the death
 
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  drive would elude our perception, since in itself it is silent (Freud, 193÷a
 
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      The concept of the death drive was one of the most controversial concepts
 
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introduced by Freud, and many of his disciples rejected it (regarding it as mere
 
−
 
 
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poetry or as an unjustifiable incursion into metaphysics), but Freud continued
 
−
 
 
−
  to reaffirm the concept for the rest of his life. Of the non-Lacanian schools of
 
−
 
 
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psychoanalytic theory, only          Kleinian psychoanalysis takes        the concept
 
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seriously.
 
−
 
 
−
      Lacan follows Freud in reaffirming the concept of the death drive as central
 
−
 
 
−
  to psychoanalysis: 'to ignore the death instinct in his [Freud's] doctrine is to
 
−
 
 
−
misunderstand that doctrine entirely' (E, 301).
 
−
 
 
−
      In Lacan's first remarks on the death drive, in 1938, he describes it 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 (Lacan, 1938: 35). In 1946 he links the death drive to the suicidal
 
−
 
 
−
tendency of narcissism (Ec, 186). By linking the death drive with the pre-
 
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oedipal phase and with narcissism, these early remarks would place the death
 
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drive in what Lacan later comes to call the imaginary order.
 
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      However, when Lacan begins to develop his concept of the three orders of
 
−
 
 
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imaginary, symbolic and real, in the 1950s, he does not situate the death drive
 
−
 
 
−
  in the imaginary but in the symbolic. In the seminar of 1954-5, for example, he
 
−
 
 
−
  argues 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' (S2, 326). This shift also marks a difference with Freud, for
 
−
 
 
−
whom the death drive was closely bound up with biology, representing the
 
−
 
 
−
fundamental tendency of every living thing to return to an inorganic state. By
 
−
 
 
−
situating the death drive firmly in the symbolic, Lacan articulates it with
 
−
 
 
−
culture rather than nature; he states that the death drive 'is not a question of
 
−
 
 
−
bjology' (E, 102), and must be distinguished from the biological instinct to
 
−
 
 
−
return to the inanimate (S7, 211-12).
 
−
 
 
−
      Another difference between Lacan's concept of the death drive and Freud's
 
−
 
 
−
emerges in 1964. Freud opposed the death drive to the sexual drives, but now
 
−
 
 
−
Lacan argues that the death drive is not a separate drive, but is in fact an aspect      -
 
−
 
 
−
of every DRIVE. 'The distinction between the life drive and the death drive is          -
 
−
 
 
−
  true in as much as it manifests two aspects of the drive' (gl 20). Hence
 
−
 
 
−
Lacan writes that 'every drive is virtually a death drive' (Ec, 844); because (i)
 
−
 
 
−
every drive pursues its own extinction, (ii) every drive involves the subject in
 
−
 
 
−
repetition, and (iii) every drive is          an attempt to go beyond the pleasure
 
−
 
 
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principle, to the realm of exceSS JOUISSANCE where enjoyment is experienced
 
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  as suffering.
 
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== ''Pulsion de mort'' ==
 
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In ''Beyond the Pleasure Principle'' (1920) Freud established a fundamental opposited between life and drives (eros), conceived of as a tendency towards cohesion and unity, and the death drives, which operate in the opposite direction, undoing connections and destroying things.  However the life drives and the death drives are never found in a pure state, but always mixed/fused together in differing proportions.  Indeed, Freud argued that were it not for this fusuion with rotism, the death drive would elude our perception, since in itself it is silent.<ref>Freud 1930a: Se XXI, 120</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
The concept of the death drive was one of the most controversial concepts introduced by Freud, and many of his disciplies rejected it, but Freud continued to reaffirm the concept for the rest of his life.
 
−
 
 
−
Lacan follows Freud in reaffirming the concept of the death drive as central to psychoanalysis.  "To ignore the death instinct in his [Freud's] doctrine is to misunderstand that doctrine entirely.'<ref> e 310</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
In Lacan's first remarks on the death drive, in 1938, he describes it 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.
 
−
 
 
−
In 1946 he links the death drive to the suicidal tendency of narcissism.
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
However when Lacan begins to develop his concept of the three orders, in the 1950s, he does not situate the death drive in the imaginary but in the symbolic.
 
−
He argues that th 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>
 
−
 
 
−
This shift also marks a difference with Freud, for whom the death drive was closely bound up with biiology, representing the fundamental tendency of every living thing to return to an inorganic state.
 
−
 
 
−
by situating the death drive firmly in the symbolic Lacan articulates it with cultural rather than nature; he states that the death drive "is not a question of biology," and must be distinguished from the biological instinct to return to the inanimate.<ref>E 102; s7 211-12</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
Another difference between Lacan's concept of the death drive and Freud's emerges in 1964.
 
−
 
 
−
Freud opposed the death drive to the sexual drives, but now Lacan argues that the death drive is not a separate drive, but is in fact an aspect of every drive.
 
−
Hence Lacan writes that "every drive is virutally a death drive" because every drive pursures its own extinction, involves the subject in repetition, and constitutes an attempt to go beyond the pleasure principle, to the realm of excss ''jouissance'' where enjoyment is experienced as suffering.
 

Revision as of 01:15, 5 June 2006

Death Drive and Freud

Sigmund Freud articulated the concept of the death drive (Fr. pulsion de mort) in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. [1] In this work he asserts a fundamental opposition between life drives (eros) - associated with cohesion and unity - and the death drives - associated with destruction and fragmentation.[2]

(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. He wrote: "to ignore the death instinct in his [Freud's] doctrine is to misunderstand that doctrine entirely."[3]

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.[4]

In 1946, Lacan associates the death drive with the suicidal tendency of narcissism.[5]

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."[6]

Death Drive and Biology

For Freud, the death drive was closely bound up with biology, representing the fundamental tendency of every living thing to return to an inorganic state. By situating the death drive firmly in the symbolic, Lacan articulates it with culture rather than nature; he states that the death drive "is not a question of bjolog,"[7] and must be distinguished from the biological instinct to return to the inanimate.[8]

Death Drive and Drives

Another difference between Lacan's concept of the death drive and Freud's emerges in 1964. Freud opposed the death drive to the sexual drives, but now Lacan argues that the death drive is not a separate drive, but is in fact an aspect - of every DRIVE. "The distinction between the life drive and the death drive is - true in as much as it manifests two aspects of the drive."[9] Hence Lacan writes that "every drive is virtually a death drive;"[10] because

  1. every drive pursues its own extinction,
  2. every drive involves the subject in repetition, and
  3. every drive is an attempt to go beyond the pleasure principle, to the realm of excess jouissance where enjoyment is experienced as suffering.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1920g
  2. ↑ Freud 1930a: Se XXI, 120
  3. ↑ E, 301
  4. ↑ Lacan, 1938: 35
  5. ↑ Ec, 186
  6. ↑ S2, 326
  7. ↑ E, 102
  8. ↑ S7, 211-12
  9. ↑ gl 20
  10. ↑ Ec, 844

3, 1, 64-5, 94, 135 Conversations.

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