Repetition, the Compulsion to Repeat, and the Death Drive: An Examination of Freud's Doctrines

by M. Andrew Holowchak, Michael Lavin

Overview

Repetition, the Compulsion to Repeat, and the Death Drive is a critical examination of Freud’s uses of repetition as they lead to the compulsion to repeat and his infamous death drive. Like perhaps no other concept, repetition drove Freud to an understanding of human behavior through development of models of the human mind and a method of treating neurotic behavior.

This book comprises three parts. Part I, “Some Early Uses of ‘Repetition’ in Psychoanalysis,” examines repetition both in clinical therapy and in Freud’s use of phylogenetic explanation. Part II, composed of three chapters, outlines Freud’s journey to his vaunted death drive, examines Beyond the Pleasure Principle, and analyzes Freud’s use of compulsion to repeat and the death drive post 1920. Last, Part III is a critical analysis of Freud on repetition and the death drive, discusses why Freud was so wedded to his controversial death drive, and what can be salvaged from Freud’s observations and speculations. Here readers will find that Holowchak, qua philosopher, and Lavin, qua clinician, have different answers when it comes to the death drive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498570503
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	11/30/2017
Series:	Dialog-on-Freud
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 9.41(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

M. Andrew Holowchak, PhD, teaches philosophy at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Michael Lavin, PhD, is a psychologist with the United States Department of the Army.

Table of Contents

Part I: Some Early Uses of “Repetition” in Psychoanalysis
Chapter 1: Repetition and Psychoanalysis as Individual Therapy
Chapter 2: Repetition and Neurosis: Phylogenetic Account
Part II: “Beyond the pleasure principle,” and Beyond
Chapter 3: The Road to “Beyond the pleasure principle”
Chapter 4: “Beyond the pleasure principle”
Chapter 5: Compulsion to Repeat and the Death Drive in Later Works
Part III: Critical Analysis
Chapter 6: Freud’s Compulsion to Justify the Death Drive
Chapter 7: A Non-Daemonic Compulsion to Repeat

Editorial Reviews

In the authors’ own words the central aim of this volume is: “Our project has been undertaken for both critical and historical reasons. We have aimed to understand Freud. Just what is the compulsion to repeat and does it provide evidence of some primal drive that points beyond the pleasure principle? Moreover, how did Freud arrive at his notion of a compulsion to repeat? Finally, just what is salvageable?” They have admirably answered these questions in an impressive work of exacting exegesis, historical reflection, philosophical analysis and pragmatic clinical evaluation. This book is simply a first rate piece of scholarship which leaves the reader with a nuanced and deeper understanding of central issues in Freud. However it is accessible for a beginning student of Freud as the authors also provide a clear and succinct introduction to the main dimensions of Freud’s thought. Finally, these authors are not dogmatic doctrinaire Freudians—fair and useful critiques of shortcomings are offered. This book is an essential read as it does an compelling job of arguing that repetition is a central construct in Freudian theory—and thus necessary to an accurate understanding of Freud. I think their arguments are convincing and need to be acknowledged by anyone with an interest in Freud or psychoanalytic theory and therapy.

William T. Odonohue

Repetition, the Compulsion to Repeat, and the Death Drive is one of the most important and original contributions to critique classical theory on the notions of repetition compulsion and the compulsion toward death that exists in Freudian studies today. A highly nuanced and meticulous revisitation of metapsychology that deserves serious scholarly attention.

Jon Mills