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==Sigmund Freud==
 
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[[Freud]]'s [[theory]] of the [[drive]] was revised extensively throughout his career.
 
  
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{| align="[[right]]" style="margin-left:10px;line-height:2.0em;text-align:justify;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #aaa"
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| [[French]]: ''[[pulsion]]''
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|-
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| [[German]]: ''[[Trieb{{Bottom}}
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==Drive and Instinct==
 +
===Sigmund Freud===
 +
[[Freud]]'s [[concept]] of the [[drive]] is central to his [[theory]] of [[human]] [[sexuality]]; it lies at the heart of his theory of [[sexuality]].
 +
 +
For [[Freud]], the distinctive feature of [[human]] [[sexuality]] -- as opposed to the [[sexual]] [[life]] of other animals -- is that it is not regulated by any [[instinct]] -- a concept which implies a relatively fixed and innate [[relationship]] to an [[object]] -- but by the [[drive]]s -- which differ from [[instinct]]s in that they are extremely variable, and develop in ways which are [[contingent]] on the life [[history]] of the [[subject]].
 +
 +
===Jacques Lacan===
 +
[[Lacan]] insists on maintaining the [[Freud]]ian [[distinction]] between [[drive]] and [[instinct]].<ref>{{E}} p.301</ref>
  
−
The [[drive]], or [[instinct]] as it is usually translated in English, is a concept that exists on the border between the somatic (bodily) and the mental. It consists of a quantity of energy and its psychical representative (remember what we said above about the unconscious being representation). Jean Laplanche and Serge Leclaire define the Freudian drive as 'a constant force of a biological nature, emanating from organic sources, that always has as its aim its own satisfaction through the elimination of the state of tension which operates at the source of the drive itself' (1972 [1965]: 140).
+
Whereas [[instinct]] denotes a [[mythical]] [[linguistic|pre-linguistic]] [[need]], the [[drive]] is completely removed from the realm of [[biology]].
  
 +
====Aim of the Drive====
 +
The [[drive]]s differ from [[biological]] [[need]]s in that they can never be [[satisfied]], and do not aim at an [[object]] but rather circle perpetually round it.
  
 +
[[Lacan]] argues that the [[purpose]] of the [[drive]] (''[[Triebziel]]'') is not to reach a ''[[goal]]'' (a final destination) but to follow its ''aim'' (the way itself), which is to circle round the [[object]].<ref>{{S11}} p.168</ref>
  
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According to [[Freud]], there are four characteristics of the [[drive]]: its '''pressure''', its '''aim''', it's '''object''' and its '''source'''.<ref>1984c [1915]: 118</ref>
+
Thus the [[real]] purpose of the [[drive]] is not some mythical goal of [[full]] [[satisfaction]], but to [[return]] to its circular path, and [[The Real|the real]] source of [[enjoyment]] is the [[repetition|repetitive movement]] of this closed circuit.
  
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By '''pressure''' Freud means the [[drive]]'s motor factor, that is to say, "the amount of force or measure of the demand for work which it represents."<ref><ref>1984c [1915]: 118</ref>
+
====Drive as Cultural and Symbolic Construct====
 +
[[Lacan]] reminds his readers that [[Freud]] defined the [[drive]] as a montage composed of four discontinuous elements: the pressure, the end, the object and the source.
  
 +
The [[drive]] cannot therefore be conceived of as "some ultimate given, something archaic, primordial."<ref>{{S11}} p.162</ref>
  
−
Exerting '''pressure''' is a characteristic common to all [[drive]]s and represents the [[drive]]'s essence.
+
It is a thoroughly [[culture|cultural]] and [[symbolic]] [[construct]].
  
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The '''aim''' of the [[drive]] is to seek its own satisfaction and it achieves this by removing the source of stimulation.
+
[[Lacan]] thus empties the concept of the [[drive]] of the lingering references in [[Freud]]'s [[work]] to energetics and hydraulics.
  
−
The '''object''' of the drive is that which the drive attaches itself to in order to achieve its aim.
 
  
−
Freud designates a particualrly close attachment between the drive and its object as "fixation".
+
==The Circuit of the Drive==
 +
[[Lacan]] incorporates the four elements of the [[drive]] in his theory of the [[drive]]'s circuit.
  
−
Finally, the source of the drive is "the somatic process which occurs in an organ or part of the body and whose stimulus is represented in mental life by an instinct."<ref>1984c [1915]: 119</ref>
+
In this circut, the [[drive]] originates in an [[erogenous zone]].
  
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The drive, in short, is something that originates within the body and seeks expression in the psyche as representation.
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This circuit is [[structured]] by the [[three]] [[grammatical]] voices.
  
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Freud is primariluy concerned with the aims of the drives and how they seek satisfaction.
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# The [[active]] [[voice]] (e.g. to see)
  
−
-----
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# The reflexive voice (e.g. to see oneself)
  
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It is crucial to acknowledge the distinction between an instinct and a drive.
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# The [[passive]] voice (e.g. to be seen)
  
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An instinct designates a need that can be satisfied.
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===Activity and Passivity===
 +
The first of these two [[times]] (active and reflexive voices) are autoerotic; they [[lack]] a [[subject]].  
  
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The examples Freud usually gives are those of hunger and thirst.
+
Only in the [[third]] [[time]] (the passive voice), when the [[drive]] completes its circuit, does "a new subject" appear (which is to say that before this time, there was [[No Subject|no subject]]).
  
−
THese needs give rise to an excitation within the body that can be satisfied and neutralized.
+
Although the [[third time]] is the passive voice, the [[drive]] is always essentially active, which is why [[Lacan]] writes that the third time not as "to be seen" but as "to make oneself be seen."
  
−
The drive, on the other hand, cannot be satisfied and is characterized by the ''constancy'' of the pressure it exerts on [[consciousness]].
+
Even supposedly "passive" phases of the [[drive]] such as [[masochism]] involve [[activity]].<ref>{{S11}} p.200</ref>
  
−
The model of the Freudian drive is libido - sexual energy - or what is also translated as 'wish' or 'desire'.  
+
The circuit of the [[drive]] is the only way for the [[subject]] to [[transgress]] the [[pleasure principle]].
  
−
According to Laplanche and Leclaire, it is the introduction of the drive into the sphere of need that marks the distinction between a need and desire: 'the drive introduces into the sphere of need an  erotic quality: libido will be substituted for need' (1972 [1965]: 140).
 
  
−
Libido is the fundamental motive force of human beings; it is unconscious desire which is the organizing principle of all human thought, action and social relations.  
+
==The Partial Nature of the Drives==
 +
[[Freud]] argued that [[sexuality]] is composed of a [[number]] of [[drive|partial drives]] ([[Ger]]. ''[[drive|Partieltrieb]]'') such as the [[drive|oral drive]] and the [[drive|anal drive]], each specified by a different source (a different [[erotogenic]] zone).
  
−
Throughout his career Freud maintained a dualistic theory of drives.  
+
At first these component [[drive]]s function anarchically and independently (viz. the "[[polymorphous perversity]]" of [[children]]), but in [[puberty]] they become organized and fused together under the priamcy of the [[genital]] organs.<ref>{{F}} p.1905d.</ref>
  
−
In the Project for a Scientific Psychology (1954 [1895]) he distinguished between bound and unbound energy.
+
===Differences between Freud and Lacan===
 +
[[Lacan]] emphasizes the partial [[nature]] of all [[drive]]s, but differs from [[Freud]] on two points:
  
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In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1991d [1905]) Freud distinguished between libido and the ego-instincts, or the drive to self-preservation.  
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# [[Lacan]] rejects the [[idea]] that the partial drives can ever attain any [[complete]] organization or fusion, aruging that the priamcy of the genital zone, if achieved, is always a highly precarious affair.
  
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Finally, when he came to accept the criticisms of his fellow analysts that the drive to self-preservation was also sexual in nature, he formulated his final great mythopoetic theory of Eros, the pleasure principle, and Thanatos, the death drive, in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1984b [1920]).
+
: He thus challenges the [[notion]], put forward by some [[psychoanalysts]] after [[Freud]], of a [[genital drive]] in which the partial drives are completely integrated in a [[harmonious]] relation.
  
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For Lacan, the Freudian notion of the drive is probably the single most important contribution of psychoanalysis to the field of human psychology and our understanding of subjectivity.  
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# [[Lacan]] argues that the [[drive]]s are partial, not in the [[sense]] that thy are parts of a [[whole]] (a 'genital drive'), but in the sense that they only [[represent]] sexuality partially; they do not represent the [[reproductive]] function of sexuality but only the [[dimension]] of enjoyment.<ref>{{S11}} p.204</ref>
  
−
Lacan insisted on the need to retain the Freudian distinction between the drive and instinct, and in his early work the drive is closely associated with desire.
 
  
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Above all, the drive shares with desire the property of never achieving its aim. The drive always circles around its object but never achieves the satisfaction of reaching it.  
+
===The Four Partial Drives===
 +
[[Lacan]] [[identifies]] four partial drives: the [[drive|oral drive]], the [[drive|anal drive]], the [[drive|scopic drive]], and the [[drive|invocatory drive]].
  
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The purpose of the drive, therefore, is simply to maintain its own repetitive compulsive movement, just as the purpose of desire is to desire.  
+
Each of these [[drive]]s is specified by a different [[partial object]] and a different [[erogenous zone]].
  
−
Lacan's theory of the drive, however, differed from Freud's in two important respects.  
+
The first two [[drive]]s relate to [[demand]], whereas the second pair relate to [[desire]].
 +
 
 +
{| style="width:75%; height:200px" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center"
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|+ '''[[:Image:Lacan-tablepartialdrives.jpg|Table of partial drives]]'''<BR>
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! align="center" |  !! align="center" | [[Partial drive|PARTIAL DRIVE]] !! align="center" | EROGENOUS ZONE !! align="center" | [[Partial Object|PARTIAL OBJECT]] !! align="center" | VERB
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|-
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| align="center" | D
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| align="center" | [[Oral]] [[drive]] || align="center" | [[Erogenous zone|Lips]] || align="center" | [[Partial object|Breast]] || align="center" | To suck
 +
|-
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| align="center" | D
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| align="center" | [[Anal]] [[drive]] || align="center" | [[Erogenous zone|Anus]] || align="center" | [[Partial object|Faeces]] || align="center" | To shit
 +
|-
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| align="center" | d
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| align="center" | [[Scopic]] [[drive]] || align="center" | [[Erogenous zone|Eyes]] || align="center" | [[Partial object|Gaze]] || align="center" | To see
 +
|-
 +
| align="center" | d
 +
| align="center" | [[Invocatory]] [[drive]] || align="center" | [[Erogenous zone|Ears]] || align="center" | [[Partial object|Voice]] || align="center" | To hear
 +
|}
  
−
Freud argued that sexuality was composed of a series of partial drives which he defined as the oral, anal and phallic phases.
 
  
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These phases become integrated into a single, whole, genital drive after the resolution of the Oedipus complex.  
+
==The Lacanian Matheme for the Drive==
 +
In 1957, in the context of the [[graph of desire]], [[Lacan]] proposes the [[formula]] ('''S <> D''') as the [[matheme]] for the [[drive]].
  
−
Contrary to Freud, Lacan argues that all drives are partial in the sense that there is never a single integrated harmonious resolution of the drives in the subject.  
+
This formula is to be read: the [[bar]]ed [[subject]] in relation to [[demand]], the [[fading]] of the [[subject]] before the [[insistence]] of a [[demand]] that persists without any [[conscious]] [[intention]] to sustain it.
  
−
Furthermore, a partial drive does not represent a part of a singular unified drive, but rather the partiality of the drive in the reproduction of sexuality (see Chapter 6).
 
  
−
Lacan also developed Freud's theory of the drive in another important respect.  
+
==The Dualism of the Drives==
 +
===Sigmund Freud: Life and Death===
 +
Throughout the various reformulations of drive-theory in [[Freud]]'s work, one constant feature is a basic [[dualism]].
  
−
He thought that it was important to retain Freud's dualism, rather than reducing everything to a single motivating force, but rejected Freud's notion of two distinct drives, Eros and Thanatos.  
+
At first this dualism was conceived in [[terms]] of an opposition between the [[drive|sexual drive]]s (''[[drive|Sexualtriebe]]'') on the one hand, and the [[drive|ego-drive]]s (''[[drive|Ichtriebe]]'') or [[drive|drives of self-preservation]] (''[[drive|Selbsterhaltungstriebe]]'') on the other.
  
−
For Lacan every drive is sexual in nature and at the same time every drive is a death drive. There is fundamentally only one drive for Lacan - the death drive - and as we will see this drive will increasingly be associated with the real and jouissance.  
+
This opposition was problematized by [[Freud]]'s growing realization, in the period 1914-20, that the [[drive|ego-drive]]s are themselves sexual.
  
−
From seminar XI onwards Lacan will oppose the drive and jouissance to desire, and that little piece of the real - of jouissance - that the subject has access to will be designated the objet petit a.
+
He was thus led to reconceptualize the dualism of the [[drive]]s in terms of an opposition between the [[drive|life drive]]s (''[[drive|Lebenstriebe]]'') and the [[death drive]]s (''[[death drive|Todestriebe]]'').
 +
 
 +
===Jacques Lacan: Symbolic and Imaginary===
 +
[[Lacan]] argues that it is important to retain [[Freud]]'s dualism, and rejects the monism of [[Jung]], who argued that all [[psychic]] forces could be reduced to one single concept of psychic [[energy]].<ref>{{S1}} p.118-20</ref>
 +
 
 +
However, [[Lacan]] prefers to reconceptualize this dualism in terms of an opposition between the [[symbolic]] and the [[imaginary]], and not in terms of an opposition between different kinds of [[drive]]s.
 +
 
 +
Thus, for [[Lacan]], all [[drive]]s are [[drive|sexual drive]]s, and every [[drive]] is a [[death drive]] since every [[drive]] is excessive, [[repetition|repetitive]], and ultimately destructive.<ref>{{Ec}} p.848</ref>
 +
 
 +
==Drive and Desire==
 +
The [[drive]]s are closely related to [[desire]]; both originate in the field of the [[subject]], as opposed to the [[drive|genital drive]], which (if it [[exists]]) finds its [[form]] on the side of the [[Other]].<ref>{{S11}} p.189</ref>
 +
 
 +
However, the [[drive]] is not merely [[another]] [[name]] for [[desire]]: they are the partial aspects in which [[desire]] is realized.
 +
 
 +
[[Desire]] is one and undivided, whereas the [[drive]]s are partial manifestations of [[desire]].
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==
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==References==
 
==References==
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<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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{| align="right" style="margin-left:10px;line-height:2.0em;text-align:justify;background-color:#fcfcfc;border:1px solid #aaa"
 
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| [[French]]: ''[[pulsion]]''
 
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|-
 
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| [[German]]: ''[[Trieb{{Bottom}}
 

Latest revision as of 06:05, 24 May 2019

French: pulsion
German: Trieb


Drive and Instinct

Sigmund Freud

Freud's concept of the drive is central to his theory of human sexuality; it lies at the heart of his theory of sexuality.

For Freud, the distinctive feature of human sexuality -- as opposed to the sexual life of other animals -- is that it is not regulated by any instinct -- a concept which implies a relatively fixed and innate relationship to an object -- but by the drives -- which differ from instincts in that they are extremely variable, and develop in ways which are contingent on the life history of the subject.

Jacques Lacan

Lacan insists on maintaining the Freudian distinction between drive and instinct.[1]

Whereas instinct denotes a mythical pre-linguistic need, the drive is completely removed from the realm of biology.

Aim of the Drive

The drives differ from biological needs in that they can never be satisfied, and do not aim at an object but rather circle perpetually round it.

Lacan argues that the purpose of the drive (Triebziel) is not to reach a goal (a final destination) but to follow its aim (the way itself), which is to circle round the object.[2]

Thus the real purpose of the drive is not some mythical goal of full satisfaction, but to return to its circular path, and the real source of enjoyment is the repetitive movement of this closed circuit.

Drive as Cultural and Symbolic Construct

Lacan reminds his readers that Freud defined the drive as a montage composed of four discontinuous elements: the pressure, the end, the object and the source.

The drive cannot therefore be conceived of as "some ultimate given, something archaic, primordial."[3]

It is a thoroughly cultural and symbolic construct.

Lacan thus empties the concept of the drive of the lingering references in Freud's work to energetics and hydraulics.


The Circuit of the Drive

Lacan incorporates the four elements of the drive in his theory of the drive's circuit.

In this circut, the drive originates in an erogenous zone.

This circuit is structured by the three grammatical voices.

  1. The active voice (e.g. to see)
  1. The reflexive voice (e.g. to see oneself)
  1. The passive voice (e.g. to be seen)

Activity and Passivity

The first of these two times (active and reflexive voices) are autoerotic; they lack a subject.

Only in the third time (the passive voice), when the drive completes its circuit, does "a new subject" appear (which is to say that before this time, there was no subject).

Although the third time is the passive voice, the drive is always essentially active, which is why Lacan writes that the third time not as "to be seen" but as "to make oneself be seen."

Even supposedly "passive" phases of the drive such as masochism involve activity.[4]

The circuit of the drive is the only way for the subject to transgress the pleasure principle.


The Partial Nature of the Drives

Freud argued that sexuality is composed of a number of partial drives (Ger. Partieltrieb) such as the oral drive and the anal drive, each specified by a different source (a different erotogenic zone).

At first these component drives function anarchically and independently (viz. the "polymorphous perversity" of children), but in puberty they become organized and fused together under the priamcy of the genital organs.[5]

Differences between Freud and Lacan

Lacan emphasizes the partial nature of all drives, but differs from Freud on two points:

  1. Lacan rejects the idea that the partial drives can ever attain any complete organization or fusion, aruging that the priamcy of the genital zone, if achieved, is always a highly precarious affair.
He thus challenges the notion, put forward by some psychoanalysts after Freud, of a genital drive in which the partial drives are completely integrated in a harmonious relation.
  1. Lacan argues that the drives are partial, not in the sense that thy are parts of a whole (a 'genital drive'), but in the sense that they only represent sexuality partially; they do not represent the reproductive function of sexuality but only the dimension of enjoyment.[6]


The Four Partial Drives

Lacan identifies four partial drives: the oral drive, the anal drive, the scopic drive, and the invocatory drive.

Each of these drives is specified by a different partial object and a different erogenous zone.

The first two drives relate to demand, whereas the second pair relate to desire.

Table of partial drives
PARTIAL DRIVE EROGENOUS ZONE PARTIAL OBJECT VERB
D Oral drive Lips Breast To suck
D Anal drive Anus Faeces To shit
d Scopic drive Eyes Gaze To see
d Invocatory drive Ears Voice To hear


The Lacanian Matheme for the Drive

In 1957, in the context of the graph of desire, Lacan proposes the formula (S <> D) as the matheme for the drive.

This formula is to be read: the bared subject in relation to demand, the fading of the subject before the insistence of a demand that persists without any conscious intention to sustain it.


The Dualism of the Drives

Sigmund Freud: Life and Death

Throughout the various reformulations of drive-theory in Freud's work, one constant feature is a basic dualism.

At first this dualism was conceived in terms of an opposition between the sexual drives (Sexualtriebe) on the one hand, and the ego-drives (Ichtriebe) or drives of self-preservation (Selbsterhaltungstriebe) on the other.

This opposition was problematized by Freud's growing realization, in the period 1914-20, that the ego-drives are themselves sexual.

He was thus led to reconceptualize the dualism of the drives in terms of an opposition between the life drives (Lebenstriebe) and the death drives (Todestriebe).

Jacques Lacan: Symbolic and Imaginary

Lacan argues that it is important to retain Freud's dualism, and rejects the monism of Jung, who argued that all psychic forces could be reduced to one single concept of psychic energy.[7]

However, Lacan prefers to reconceptualize this dualism in terms of an opposition between the symbolic and the imaginary, and not in terms of an opposition between different kinds of drives.

Thus, for Lacan, all drives are sexual drives, and every drive is a death drive since every drive is excessive, repetitive, and ultimately destructive.[8]

Drive and Desire

The drives are closely related to desire; both originate in the field of the subject, as opposed to the genital drive, which (if it exists) finds its form on the side of the Other.[9]

However, the drive is not merely another name for desire: they are the partial aspects in which desire is realized.

Desire is one and undivided, whereas the drives are partial manifestations of desire.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.301
  2. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977. p.168
  3. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977. p.162
  4. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977. p.200
  5. ↑ Freud, Sigmund. p.1905d.
  6. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977. p.204
  7. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book I. Freud's Papers on Technique, 1953-54. Trans. John Forrester. New York: Nortion; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. p.118-20
  8. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.848
  9. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977. p.189


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