On Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle

by Salman Akhtar (Editor), Mary Kay O'Neil (Editor)

Overview

Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle constitutes a major landmark and a real turning point in the evolution of psychoanalytic theory. Pushing aside the primacy of the tension-discharge-gratification model of mental dynamics, this work introduced the notion of a "daemonic force" within all human beings that slowly but insistently seeks psychic inactivity, inertia, and death. Politely dismissed by some as a pseudo-biological speculation and rapturously espoused by others as a bold conceptual advance, "death instinct" became a stepping stone to the latter conceptualizations of mind's attacks on itself, negative narcissism, addiction to near-death, and the utter destruction of meaning in some clinical situations. The concept also served as a bridge between the quintessentially Western psychoanalysis and the Eastern perspectives on life and death. These diverse and rich connotations of the proposal are elucidated in On Freud's "Beyond the Pleasure Principle". Other consequences of Freud's 1920 paper - namely, the marginalization of ego instincts and the "upgrading" of aggression in the scheme of things - are also addressed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781855757851
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/31/2011
Series:	The International Psychoanalytical Association Contemporary Freud Turning Points and Critical Issues Series
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Salman Akhtar

Table of Contents

Contemporary Freud: IPA Publications Committee vii

Acknowledgements ix

Editors and Contributors xi

Introduction Salman Akhtar 1

Part I Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920g) Sigmund Freud 13

Part II Discussion of Beyond the Pleasure Principle

1 Jenseits and beyond: teaching Freud's late work W. Craig Tomlinson 73

2 Life and death in Freudian metapsychology: a reappraisal of the second instinctual dualism Fátima Caropreso Richard Theisen Simanke 86

3 An unusual manifestation of repetition compulsion in traumatized patients Ira Brenner 108

4 The dream in Beyond the Pleasure Principle and beyond Joshua Levy 128

5 Does the death-instinct-based theory of aggression hold up? Henri Parens 154

6 The concept of the death drive: a clinical perspective Otto Kernberg 173

7 Addiction to near-death Betty Joseph 191

8 Manifestations of the death instinct in the consulting room Michael Feldman 206

9 A Hindu reading of Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle Ashok Nagpal 230

10 The trauma of lost love in psychoanalysis Elisabeth Young-Bruehl 250

Epilogue Mary Kay O'Neil 265

References 279

Index 297

Editorial Reviews

"A re-examination of Freud’s most controversial essay, 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', is timely. After almost eighty years, this historically significant paper still leaves the psychoanalytic world divided, especially as regards the 'death instinct' and its clinical significance. Other notable concepts such as repetition-compulsion and the importance of aggression in both individual and group psychology continue to gain strong support. To consider the theoretical and clinical implications of 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', the editors have gathered eleven contributors from different psychoanalytic traditions. The result is a book very much worth reading. The transition between Freud’s first and second dual-instinct theories; his two dream theories; and his understanding of the relationship between masochism and sadism are all clarified in masterly fashion. Even what some regard as Freud’s missed 1920 opportunity to extend childhood libidinal strivings into adult object-relational needs (love etc) is carefully placed in historical context. This is a stimulating collection that would have inspired Freud had he been able to revisit 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle' from our 2011 vantage point."

Frederick H. Lowy

"Salman Akhtar and Mary Kay O’Neil have assembled an array of brilliant and varied contributors whose commentaries bring this “unfathomable” essay to life, as O’Neil puts it in her epilogue. Kernberg, Joseph, Brenner, Parens, and other renowned theorists discover in Freud’s controversial treatise, perhaps the first with which his close adherents openly took issue, some of the fundamental issues facing psychoanalysis today: the aftershocks of trauma, dream theory, the essence of aggression, drive versus affect theory, the theme of death in Hindu mythology, the pedagogy of teaching Freud, and more. Indeed, this fine volume made this reader rethink many of his own assumptions about the fundamentals of contemporary psychoanalysis. As is usual with Freud— nothing dated here!

John Munder Ross

"Salman Akhtar and Mary Kay O’Neil have assembled an array of brilliant and varied contributors whose commentaries bring this “unfathomable” essay to life, as O’Neil puts it in her epilogue. Kernberg, Joseph, Brenner, Parens, and other renowned theorists discover in Freud’s controversial treatise, perhaps the first with which his close adherents openly took issue, some of the fundamental issues facing psychoanalysis today: the aftershocks of trauma, dream theory, the essence of aggression, drive versus affect theory, the theme of death in Hindu mythology, the pedagogy of teaching Freud, and more. Indeed, this fine volume made this reader rethink many of his own assumptions about the fundamentals of contemporary psychoanalysis. As is usual with Freud— nothing dated here!”

"A re-examination of Freud’s most controversial essay, 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', is timely. After almost eighty years, this historically significant paper still leaves the psychoanalytic world divided, especially as regards the 'death instinct' and its clinical significance. Other notable concepts such as repetition-compulsion and the importance of aggression in both individual and group psychology continue to gain strong support. To consider the theoretical and clinical implications of 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', the editors have gathered eleven contributors from different psychoanalytic traditions. The result is a book very much worth reading. The transition between Freud’s first and second dual-instinct theories; his two dream theories; and his understanding of the relationship between masochism and sadism are all clarified in masterly fashion. Even what some regard as Freud’s missed 1920 opportunity to extend childhood libidinal strivings into adult object-relational needs (love etc) is carefully placed in historical context. This is a stimulating collection that would have inspired Freud had he been able to revisit 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle' from our 2011 vantage point."

From the Publisher