Drive

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French: pulsion; German: Trieb
Translator's Note

Lacan reinstates a distinction, already clear in Freud, between the wholly psychical pulsion (trieb) and instinct (Instinkt), with its "biological" connotations.

As Lacan has pounted out, Freud's English translators blur this distinction by translating both terms as "instinct".


Instinkt and Trieb

Freud normally uses the word "Instinkt" ("instinct") to refer to a relatively fixed and unchangeable set of behavioral patterns "peculiar to an animal species, varying little from one member of this species to another and unfolding in accordance with a temporal scheme which is generally resistant to change and apparently geared to a purpose."[1]

"Trieb" ("drive"), on the other hand, is extremely variable, and develops in ways which are contingent on the life history of the subject.

Unlike Instinkt, Trieb" ("drive") is extremely variable, and develops in ways which are contingent on the life history of the subject.

Need and Satisfaction

The instinct is characterized by a biological need giving rise to an intermittent excitation or tension within the body -- such as hunger or thirst -- which can be satisfied.

The drive differs from the instinct in that it is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness, and cannot be satisfied.

The drive differs from the instinct in that it is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness, as a constant force that cannot be satisfied.

Unlike the instinct, the drive is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness, as a constant force that cannot be satisfied.

The drive differs from the instinct in that it exerts a constant pressure on consciousness, as a constant force that cannot be satisfied.


The drive, on the other hand, cannot be satisfied and is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness.

The drive, on the other hand, is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness, and so cannot be satisfied.

The drive, on the other hand, is characterized by the constancy of the pressure it exerts on consciousness, a constant force that can never be satisfied.

Desire and Drive

See Also

References

  1. Laplanche, Jean and Pontalis, Jean-Bertrand. The Language of Psychoanalysis. Karnac Books, 1996