Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Penguin Modern Classics)

by Sigmund Freud

Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Penguin Modern Classics)

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234 ratings, 3.88 average rating, 17 reviews (more data...)

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published

July 31st 2003 by Penguin Books

binding

Paperback, 320 pages

isbn

0141184051 (isbn13: 9780141184050)

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All ratings | 5 stars (74) | 4 stars (78) | 3 stars (64) | 2 stars (15) | 1 star (2) | avg 3.88

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Christopher

Christopher rated it:

03/05/07

bookshelves: best-ever

Read in January, 1998

Penguin UK has been releasing a new set of translations of Freud's works, all with new introductions. The introduction of this edition of Beyond the Pleasure Principle is by Mark Edmundson, whose book Freud and Reading has been important to me. Here's a little gem I plucked from it: "[Freud:] is our prose-poet of the heart's endless desire to break."

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Shane

Shane rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

11/03/08

bookshelves: thought

A very short work, much of which is quite recondite. Much of what Freud writes he admits is speculative. Yet the idea that there is a life and a death instinct in all organisms is certainly something that can be discussed at a metapsychological level.

Freud does raise an interesting question about the very idea of science and its relationship to speculation. Note:

"It may be asked whether and how far I am myself convinced of the truth of the hypotheses that have been set out in t...more A very short work, much of which is quite recondite. Much of what Freud writes he admits is speculative. Yet the idea that there is a life and a death instinct in all organisms is certainly something that can be discussed at a metapsychological level.

Freud does raise an interesting question about the very idea of science and its relationship to speculation. Note:

"It may be asked whether and how far I am myself convinced of the truth of the hypotheses that have been set out in these pages. My answer would be that I am not convinced myself and that I do not seek to persuade other people to believe in them. Or, more precisely, that I do not know how far I believe in them. There is no reason, as it seems to me, why the emotional factor of conviction should enter into this question at all. It is surely possible to throw oneself into a line of thought and to follow it wherever it leads out of simple scientific curiosity, or, if the reader prefers, as an advocatus diaboli , who is not on that account himself sold to the devil. ... It may be ... that I have over-estimated [the death instinct:]. And in any case it is impossible to pursue an idea of this kind except by repeatedly combining factual material with what is purely speculative and thus diverging widely from empirical observation. The more frequently this is done in the course of constructing a theory, the more untrustworthy, as we know, must be the final result. But the degree of uncertainty is not assignable. One may have made a lucky hit or one may have gone shamefully astray. I do not think a large part is played by what is called 'intuition' in work of this kind. From what I have seen of intuition, it seems to me to be the product of a kind of intellectual impartiality. Unfortunately, however, people are seldom impartial where ultimate things, the great problems of science and life, are concerned. Each of us is governed in such cases by deep-rooted internal prejudices, into whose hands our speculation unwittingly plays. Since we have such good grounds for being distrustful, our attitude towards the results of our own deliberations cannot well be other than one of cool benevolence. I hasten to add, however, that self-criticism such as this is far from binding one to any special tolerance towards dissentient opinions. It is perfectly legitimate to reject remorselessly theories which are contradicted by the very first steps in the analysis of observed facts, while yet being aware at the same time that the validity of one's own theory is only a provisional one.

We need not feel greatly disturbed in judging our speculation upon the life and death instincts by the fact that so many bewildering and obscure processes occur in it -- such as one instinct being driven out by another or an instinct turning from the ego to an object, and so on. This is merely due to our being obliged to operate with the scientific terms, that is to say with the figurative language, peculiar to psychology (or, more precisely, to depth psychology). We could not otherwise describe the processes in question at all, and indeed we could not have become aware of them. The deficiencies in our description would probably vanish if we were already in a position to replace the psychological terms by physiological or chemical ones. It is true that they too are only part of a figurative language; but it is one with which we have long been familiar and which is perhaps a simpler one as well."

Much can be said about the preceding statements. I will limit myself only to the following open-ended questions: is there really such a difference between science and philosophy? Doesn't all scientific knowledge begin with metaphysical speculation? A philosophy of life should be based on observable facts, but some things (like theories of instinctual apparatuses operating on complex organisms) can't exactly be placed under a microscope. And so until their biological foundations are discovered, any conversation thereof will necessarily be speculative. But not purely speculative. Freud was aware of a great number of chemical and microbiological experiments which contributed to his discussion in this work. The point I'm trying to make is that the speculative nature of his inquiry by no means renders it illegitimate or invalid. ...less

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Will

Will rated it:

02/17/08

bookshelves: science-and-its-discontents

Read in April, 2006

One of the more outlandish -- which is NOT to say inaccurate -- explanations of human behavior. This is where Freud unites the reality principle and the pleasure principle under the umbrella of the "life instinct" -- an innate drive for self-preservation. In opposition to this, he posits an EVEN MORE PRIMAL drive toward self-annihilation -- the "death instinct." The latter propels us toward a state of inorganic stasis, free from the psychic disruptions of the external wor...more

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Mr.

Mr. rated it:

10/07/08

This little book is indubitable proof of the breadth and depth of Freud's thinking. It is a fascinating and multi-faceted read, containing elements of psychoanalysis, philosophy, poetry, biology, and the literary theory. You will not believe how quickly Freud is able to move from topic to topic and the absurd range within which he is able to speculate. This is also an extraordinarily challenging read, it requires patience and many re-readings. Freud discusses the compulsion to repeat, transferen...more

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Jim

Jim rated it:

05/07/08

Read in April, 2008

Somehow arrives at a nascent theory of the 'death instincts' through a strange combination of contemporary biological knowledge and his empirical clinical findings. For example, he spends ample time discussing protista and their apparent ability to replicate without degenerating as if there was some close correlation between this and human behavior.
The book is interesting, if only because one can see the seeds of Lacanian concepts like the mirror stage and the symbolic.

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Ian

Ian rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

04/07/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, own, philosophy

Read in April, 2008

I've read this book a few times, and at less than ninety pages it's not hard to do. It's really formed a good foundation for me of how I feel about the world and a vocabulary to deal with the feelings I experience. Who knows if other people have that kind of experience with this, but I loved it.

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Joe

Joe rated it:

11/12/07

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: freud fans

Not his most entertaining work, but fascinating and quite readable all the same. Freud here introduces the "compulsion to repeat" (that's what y'all do when you keep dating the same type of loser over and over again) & the death drive (the explication of which is actually pretty vague and confusing).

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Noah

Noah rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

11/05/08

Read in November, 2008

Not his best work in any sense. Here Freud tries to dive into the beginnings of life and work out what death is (among other things). What he comes up with is an astounding depth of...all I can say is wrong. I actually felt sick following his logic at times...

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Millicent

Millicent rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

05/23/07

Sigmund Freud possessed a scintillating combination of genius and stupidity (one might say that he had a genius for stupidity), and this volume brings out both extremes in an amusing fashion.

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Jessica

Jessica rated it:

12/07/07

bookshelves: academic, nonfiction, psychology

Read in October, 2007

There are some interesting points in this work, but there's a lot of surrounding text to wade through first.

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Lauren

Lauren rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

09/04/07

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: no one

Not nearly as readable as the Three Essays on Sexuality. Would not recommend anyone read this who didn't have to.

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Scott

Scott rated it:

07/10/08

As Charlie Shepherdson says, it is always a good idea to go back to Freud.

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Michael

Michael added it

12/23/07

Freud's theory of "avoidance of dis-pleasure" and his "economic" model of the mind.

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Greg

Greg rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

04/24/07

bookshelves: psychology

Read in July, 2006

This is the book where Freud develops his theory of Eros and Thanatos.

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Anna

Anna rated it:

01/28/08

Read in January, 2006

Sex drive. Death drive. Pretty pretty pretty good.

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YZ added it (review of isbn 0393007693)

09/21/08

Read in September, 2008

For class.

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Monica

Monica added it (review of isbn 0393007693)

10/26/07

bookshelves: donation-pile, prefer-it-as-podcast

? Toss it?

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Wally

Wally rated it:

(review of isbn 0393007693)

12/02/08

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Jerry

Jerry added it

11/30/08

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Summer

Summer marked it as to-read

11/29/08

bookshelves: to-read

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