Eros - Nicola Abel-Hirsch - 27/07/04
Attending:
Annie, David, Kieran, Paul, and Tooney
Nicola had asked us to read Freud's Beyond The Pleasure Principle...
Very briefly summarised this concerned Freud's interest in the Death Instinct he saw as in opposition to the Life Instinct (Eros). Freud maintained that the compulsion to repeat particular unpleasurable behaviours was not necessarily a sign that the psyche was trying to master a particular problem but could be the manifestation of an over-riding destructive force.
Eros, the Life Instinct, can be seen as an Organising Principle present in Nature, in conflict with Thanatos a destructive principle. The Death Instinct means an 'urge' to return to inanimate matter present in the human psyche as a reflection of a universal principle.
Freud believed that we should be more surprised by the occurrence of death as there was bioligical evidence of early living organisms that did not die but went on 'reproducing'. Why does Death exist?
Psychoanalysts present clinical evidence for the Death Instinct in young children in such forms as Primitve Envy. This has been explored by analysts such as Betty Joseph and Hanna Segal.
Further Reading:
Hanna Segal : The Significance of the Death Instinct in Clinical Practice from Dream, Phantasy and Art.
Notes:
Eros was the son of Aphrodite. Eros was the god of love. In particular erotic, romantic, love.
Thanatos was the Greek God of Death.
Annie, David, Kieran, Paul, and Tooney
Nicola had asked us to read Freud's Beyond The Pleasure Principle...
Very briefly summarised this concerned Freud's interest in the Death Instinct he saw as in opposition to the Life Instinct (Eros). Freud maintained that the compulsion to repeat particular unpleasurable behaviours was not necessarily a sign that the psyche was trying to master a particular problem but could be the manifestation of an over-riding destructive force.
Eros, the Life Instinct, can be seen as an Organising Principle present in Nature, in conflict with Thanatos a destructive principle. The Death Instinct means an 'urge' to return to inanimate matter present in the human psyche as a reflection of a universal principle.
Freud believed that we should be more surprised by the occurrence of death as there was bioligical evidence of early living organisms that did not die but went on 'reproducing'. Why does Death exist?
Psychoanalysts present clinical evidence for the Death Instinct in young children in such forms as Primitve Envy. This has been explored by analysts such as Betty Joseph and Hanna Segal.
Further Reading:
Hanna Segal : The Significance of the Death Instinct in Clinical Practice from Dream, Phantasy and Art.
Notes:
Eros was the son of Aphrodite. Eros was the god of love. In particular erotic, romantic, love.
Thanatos was the Greek God of Death.
