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Document Details : Title: Tussen driftmonisme en conflict Subtitle: Freuds Aan gene zijde van het lustprincipe herlezen Author(s): VAN HAUTE, Philippe Journal: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie Volume: 84 Issue: emeritaatsnummer Date: 2022 Pages: 39-66 DOI: 10.2143/TVF.84.5.3290711 Abstract : In this article I discuss the importance of comparing the two versions of Freud’s ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’ for a proper understanding of the text. More concretely, I argue that the first version of this major text, finished in April 1919, has a consistency of its own that is difficult to reconcile with the perspective that Freud articulates in the sixth chapter, written more than a year later. Rather, one should read the sixth chapter as Freud’s reply to the first version. It can be read as a correction of the ‘monistic’ consequences that this first version might entail. Whereas in this version all drives are said to be characterized by a principle of inertia, this general principle becomes a separate drive (or ‘death drives’) that stands over and against another drive (‘life drives’) in the second version. It is only in this second version that Freud starts speaking of death drives. Taking the differences between these two versions into account allows for a better understanding of the many tensions and contradictions that are present in the published version of the text (e.g. why is repetition no longer mentioned in chapter six, how does the problem of aggression relate to the principle of inertia, etc.). |
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