Reviews

Além do Princípio de Prazer by Sigmund Freud

farrahrotman's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

life and death and death and death and death and death and

poopdealer's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

fxti's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative slow-paced

nb_leftist's review against another edition

Go to review page

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I’m reading a compilation of Freud’s works, the specific compilation is “The Essentials of Psycho-analysis” By Sigmund Freud Selected by Anna Freud.
I’m reading it to get a better understanding of the beginnings of psychology. This is a part of that “series” of reviews.

I like that this was more of an exploration rather than a definitive decision. I disagree with the existence of a death instinct, I think the desire for repetition stems from one of two places (or both); it might come from an avoidance of death and returning to an earlier time period to “avoid” the passage of time, or it might come from a need for more pleasure and a viewing of a certain past pleasurable experience or time period, thus creating a pleasurable want to repeat a past experience or return to the way things were before. Although it might also come from the existential horror that comes with conscious existence and the massive amount of responsibility that is placed on our shoulders to decide what to do with our lives.

Interesting little essay.

ichirofakename's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

Tortured logic in pursuit of questionable preconceptions via jargon-laden and/or ill-translated prose. Not recommended.

thesimplelibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Although it’s a pain to read (yes, even though it’s short) and you could easily find a summary online, I definitely recommend reading the primary source, as Freud’s ideas have been misinterpreted in such a way that even popular culture has altered the interpretation of his theories.
Freud’s notion of the Death drive is especially a tricky one, as it does not actually refer to the desire for death, or the supposed Thanatos, as it has been termed, but rather a desire to a primordial inorganic state, in order to maintain a low level of excitation. Whoever simply Googles the term, will get the wrong idea completely. I have to add that Freud is highly speculative about his theories himself, so don’t expect a well-rounded theory that explains in detail how traumatic neurosis or the Death drive for that matter, manifest itself in practice. What you get is a sort of stream of consciousness about the workings of the mind that is subjected to trauma.
As I’ve mentioned, not an easy read, but once you get the gist, it’s really a great insight into the psychoanalytics of trauma.

ricc's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

4.5

colin_cox's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Like so much of Freud's work, Beyond the Pleasure Principle is a text searching for answers to an elusive set of questions that even Freud cannot fully answer. Even if Beyond the Pleasure Principle is, at times, a slog, it is an important text because Beyond the Pleasure Principle marks the moment Freud reconfigures psychoanalysis. In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, the death drive emerges as the primary motivation for human activity. Instead of theorizing the pleasure principle as that which operates as the primary motivation for human activity, Beyond the Pleasure Principle suggests the pleasure principle feeds the death drive. That is to say, as Todd McGowan suggests, the pleasure principle (a state defined by its lack of excitation or tension) is a bridge to the death drive (a state of heightened or elongated excitation and tension).

Later thinkers like Lacan build and expand the death drive, but Beyond the Pleasure Principle is that necessary step. It moves psychoanalysis into fundamentally different territory.

***

If anyone reading this would like a deeper exploration of this text and how psychoanalytic thinkers develop the death drive, consider watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viYtgC5cL0E

maar_deen's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

he just doesn't get it

jnjones's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative medium-paced

3.25