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When [[Freud ]] spoke of "a drive," he was always referring to a [[partial ]] drive. The first definition of this term is found in the first of the <i>[[Three ]] Essays on the [[Theory ]] of Sexuality</i> at the opening of section five, "Component [[[Drives]]] and [[Erotogenic ]] Zones": "By [a drive] is provisionally to be [[understood ]] the [[psychical ]] [[representative ]] of an endosomatic, continuously flowing source of stimulation, as contrasted with a 'stimulus,' which is set up by <i>single</i> excitations coming from without. The [[concept ]] of [drive] is thus one of those lying on the frontier between the [[mental ]] and the psychical. The simplest and likeliest assumption as to the [[nature ]] of [drives] would seem be that in itself [a drive] is without quality, and, so far as mental [[life ]] is concerned, is only to be regarded as a measure of the [[demand ]] made upon the [[mind ]] for [[work]]. What distinguishes the [drives] from one [[another ]] and endows [[them ]] with specific qualities is their relation to their somatic sources and to their aims. The source of [a drive] is a [[process ]] of [[excitation ]] occurring in an [[organ ]] and the immediate aim of the [drive] lies in the removal of this [[organic ]] stimulus" (1905d, p. 168).Freud quickly conceived of the [[role ]] of the [[sexual ]] drive and the [[libido ]] in the etiology of the [[neuroses]], but the discovery of [[infantile ]] sexuality took much longer. According to the "[[seduction ]] theory," the effects of sexuality in the [[infant ]] were extrinsic and [[contingent]]. Freud abandoned this theory when he discovered [[fantasy ]] and the [[Oedipus ]] [[complex ]] during his [[self]]-[[analysis]]. In its [[place]], there appeared a general [[infantile sexuality ]] that gives rise to [[fantasies]], [[neurotic ]] [[symptoms]], [[perverse ]] [[acts]], and [[delusions]]. According to his letters to [[Fliess]], this work was accomplished between September 21 and November 14, 1897. The [[anal ]] and [[oral ]] regions and "perhaps the [[whole ]] surface of the [[body ]] as well" are sexual zones that in infancy "instigate something that is analogous to the later release of sexuality" (1950a [1892-99], p. 269). These zones persist in [[perversion]], but usually fall under "normal [[repression]]."Fueled by both [[clinical ]] observation and Freud's own [[self-analysis]], the elaboration of infantile sexuality is found throughout <i>The [[Interpretation ]] of [[Dreams]]</i> (1900a). The analysis of [[Dora]]'s cough (1905e [1901]), reveals a fantasy of sucking the [[penis]]. The morphogenesis of the fantasy is simple: the mouth is the "primary [[erogenous zone]]"; created by the act of nursing, it survives in the act of kissing. "So we see that this excessively repulsive and perverted [[phantasy ]] of sucking at a penis has the most innocent origin. It is a new version of what may be described as a prehistoric impression of sucking at the [[mother]]'s or nurse's breast—an impression which has usually been revived by contact with [[children ]] who are [[being ]] nursed. In most cases, a cow's udder has aptly played the part of an [[image ]] intermediate between a nipple and a penis" (1905e [1901], p. 52). [[Stating ]] that "Psychoneuroses are, so to [[speak]], the <i>[[negative]]</i> of perversions" (p. 50), Freud sketched out the [[thesis ]] that he would establish in the <i>[[Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality]]</i> (1905d). "You will have no [[doubt ]] heard . . . that in [[psychoanalysis ]] the concept of what is sexual has been unduly extended in [[order ]] to support the theses of the sexual causation of the neuroses and the sexual [[meaning ]] of symptoms. . . . We have only extended the concept of sexuality far enough to be able to comprise the [[sexual life ]] of perverts and children. We have, that is to say, given it back its [[true ]] compass" (1916-17a, p. 319).The [[synthesis ]] of these [[concepts ]] began in 1905. So-called normal [[adult ]] sexuality, neuroses, and perversions all show the sexual drive to be aberrant if reproduction is its aim. But these aberrations are effaced if the innate germs of sexuality go through a complex morphogenesis in infancy and then succumb to repression, which creates amnesias and an [[ignorance ]] comparable to those found in [[neurosis]]. These germs of sexuality develop along with the [[physiological ]] [[needs ]] and functions, the points on the body that interface with the [[external ]] [[world ]] each creating their own organ [[pleasure]]. Thus the partial drives find their source, their aim, and their [[object]], "the [[thing ]] in [[regard ]] to which the [drive] is able to achieve its aim. It is what is most variable [[about ]] [a drive]" (1915c, p. 122). If a drive finds its object in the [[subject]]'s own body, it is described as autoerotic. [[Sadomasochism ]] and [[mastery ]] involve oral, anal, urethral, and muscular erotism. [[Voyeurism ]] and exhibitionism involve the eyes. As for the skin, the "erotogenic zone par excellence" (1905d, p. 169), it involves the genitals, among [[other ]] regions. Meanwhile, the infant is "polymorphously perverse."From this point on, Freud worked continuously on the theory of the partial drives and their vicissitudes. He elucidated the transformations that the [[primitive ]] impulses of the drive undergo on account of their entanglement in [[language ]] in [[terms ]] of the [[development ]] of the ego, education, and [[culture]]. He described psychoanalysis as "[[biological psychology]] [[psychology]]: "[W]e are studying the psychical accompaniments of biological [[processes]]" (1933a [1932], pp. 95-96).Diligently following up his clinical work, Freud devoted himself in 1931 to analyzing the [[myth ]] of Prometheus: a story of the urethral drive, or rather of how humankind's [[control ]] over fire, acquired by repressing the [[wish ]] to urinate on it, led to legends (1932a).In the [[unconscious]], the impulses of the drive—the primary [[energy ]] and [[material ]] of mental processes—appear as both ideational representative and quota of [[affect]]. These impulses have both [[active ]] and [[passive ]] aims that make them susceptible to [[ambivalence]]. Several impulses can share the same vicissitude, and the [[satisfaction ]] of one can replace that of another. These transpositions of drives give rise to unconscious concepts such as [[feces]]-infant-penis. And the ego's defenses alter the ways in which impulses are expressed. [[Reversal ]] into the opposite, [[turning around ]] upon oneself, repression, [[regression]], reaction-[[formation]], [[isolation]], [[undoing]], [[projection]], [[inhibition ]] as to aim, and [[sublimation ]] all testify to the malleability of drives. Moreover, infantile development goes through the [[stages ]] of [[pregenital ]] [[libidinal ]] organization, which involve the [[choice ]] of an object and the primacy of the partial drives: oral, anal-[[sadistic]], and then [[phallic]]. These stages converge in the formation of character and can provoke regressions. Also, it is worth noting that all fantasy scenarios include the satisfaction of a drive.The [[notion ]] of the partial drive has given rise to more elaborations than criticism. For example, Karl [[Abraham]], Sándor Ferenczi, and Lou Andreas-Salomé all added to the theory, as did the development of [[child ]] analysis.

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1950a [1892-99]). Extracts from the Fliess papers. SE, 1: 177-280.# ——. (1905e [1901]). Fragment of an analysis of a [[case ]] of [[hysteria]]. SE, 7: 1-122.# ——. (1915c). [[Instincts ]] and their vicissitudes. SE, 14: 109-140.# ——. (1916-17a). Introductory lectures on [[psycho]]-analysis. SE, 15-16: 15-463.

# [[Lacan]], Jacques. (1978). [[The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis]]. (Alan [[Sheridan]], Trans.) New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1964)