Chapter VII

If this attempt to reinstate an earlier condition really is so universal a characteristic of the instincts, we should not find it surprising that so many processes in the psychic life are performed independently of the pleasure-principle. This characteristic would communicate itself to every part-instinct and would in that case concern a harking back to a definite point on the path of development. But all that the pleasure-principle has not yet acquired power over is not therefore necessarily in opposition to it, and we have not yet solved the problem of determining the relation of the instinctive repetition processes to the domination of the pleasure-principle.

We have recognised that one of the earliest and most important functions of the psychic apparatus is to ‘bind’ the instreaming instinctive excitations, to substitute the ‘secondary process’ for the ‘primary process’ dominating them, and to transform their freely mobile energy-charge into a predominantly quiescent (tonic) charge. During this transformation no attention can be paid to the development of ‘pain’, but the pleasure-principle is not thereby annulled. On the contrary, the transformation takes place in the service of the pleasure-principle; the binding is an act of preparation, which introduces and secures its sovereignty.

Let us distinguish function and tendency more sharply than we have hitherto done. The pleasure-principle is then a tendency which subserves a certain function—namely, that of rendering the psychic apparatus as a whole free from any excitation, or to keep the amount of excitation constant or as low as possible. We cannot yet decide with certainty for either of these conceptions, but we note that the function so defined would partake of the most universal tendency of all living matter—to return to the peace of the inorganic world. We all know by experience that the greatest pleasure it is possible for us to attain, that of the sexual act, is bound up with the temporary quenching of a greatly heightened state of excitation. The ‘binding’ of instinct-excitation, however, would be a preparatory function, which would direct the excitation towards its ultimate adjustment in the pleasure of discharge.

In the same connection, the question arises whether the sensations of pleasure and ‘pain’ can emanate as well from the bound as from the ‘unbound’ excitation processes. It appears quite beyond doubt that the ‘unbound’, the primary, processes give rise to much more intense sensations in both directions than the bound ones, those of the ‘secondary processes’. The primary processes are also the earlier in point of time; at the beginning of mental life there are no others, and we may conclude that if the pleasure-principle were not already in action in respect to them, it would not establish itself in regard to the later processes. We thus arrive at the result which at bottom is not a simple one, that the search for pleasure manifests itself with far greater intensity at the beginning of psychic life than later on, but less unrestrictedly: it has to put up with repeated breaches. At a maturer age the dominance of the pleasure-principle is very much more assured, though this principle as little escapes limitations as all the other instincts. In any case, whatever it is in the process of excitation that engenders the sensations of pleasure and ‘pain’ must be equally in existence when the secondary process is at work as with the primary process.

This would seem to be the place to institute further studies. Our consciousness conveys to us from within not only the sensations of pleasure and ‘pain’, but also those of a peculiar tension, which again may be either pleasurable or painful in itself. Now is it the ‘bound’ and ‘unbound’ energy processes that we have to distinguish from each other by the help of these sensations, or is the sensation of tension to be related to the absolute quantity, perhaps to the level of the charge, while the pleasure-pain series refers to the changes in the quantity of charge in the unit of time? We must also be struck with the fact that the life-instincts have much more to do with our inner perception, since they make their appearance as disturbers of the peace, and continually bring along with them states of tension the resolution of which is experienced as pleasure; while the death-instincts, on the other hand, seem to fulfil their function unostentatiously. The pleasure-principle seems directly to subserve the death-instincts; it keeps guard, of course, also over the external stimuli, which are regarded as dangers by both kinds of instincts, but in particular over the inner increases in stimulation which have for their aim the complication of the task of living. At this point innumerable other questions arise to which no answer can yet be given. We must be patient and wait for other means and opportunities for investigation. We must hold ourselves too in readiness to abandon the path we have followed for a time, if it should seem to lead to no good result. Only such ‘true believers’ as expect from science a substitute for the creed they have relinquished will take it amiss if the investigator develops his views further or even transforms them.

For the rest we may find consolation in the words of a poet for the slow rate of progress in scientific knowledge:

Whither we cannot fly, we must go limping.
· · · · ·
The Scripture saith that limping is no sin.[37]

INDEX

Acquired instinctive dispositions, 49.

Adaptation, 52.
Death a phenomenon of, 58.

Ambivalence, hate-love, 69.

Amphimixis, 60, 72.

Anabolic processes, 63.

Angst, 9.

Animalculae, 60, 61.

Anxiety dreams, 38.

Apprehension, 9, 37, 39.

_Aristophanes_, 74.

Barrier against stimuli, 33, 34, 36–7.

Binding, psychical, 30, 34–7, 39, 42, 44, 80–2.

_Breuer, J._, 10, 27, 30, 36, 42.

_Calkins_, 60.

Charge, 34–7, 80, 82.
Breuer’s bound or tonic, 42.
Counter-, 34.
Free-flowing, 36, 42, 80.
of object, 64.
Over-, 37, 39–40.
Quiescent, 35–6, 80.

Children, play of, 11, 16, 43.

Compulsion, 22, 49.
Daemonic, 44.
Destiny-, 24.
Repetition-. _See_ Repetition-compulsion.
to repeat, 44.

Conjugation, 60, 63, 71–3.

Conscious:
Becoming, 27, 28.
ego, 19–20.
impulses, 3.
psychic processes, 32.
The, 19.

Consciousness, 3, 17, 19, 26–9, 47, 82.
Origin of, 28, 30.
Perceptual, 26.
Seat of, 27.
Threshold of, 3.

Conservative:
instincts. _See under_ Instincts.
nature of living beings, 45.

Constancy, principle of, 4.

Daemonic:
character, 43.
compulsion, 44.

Danger, 7, 9, 49, 83.

Death, 47–50, 54–63, 71, 73.
consequence of propagation, 59.
from inner causes, 56, 58.
Goal of. _See under_ Goal.
Impulsion towards, 70.
instincts. _See under_ Instincts.
Natural, 55, 56, 58, 61–2.
of higher animals, 61.
phenomenon of adaptation, 58.

Destiny, 22.
-compulsion, 24.

_Deussen_, 75.

Development, 45, 47, 49–54, 59, 72, 80.
Impulse towards higher, 51.
Libido-, 66.
Organic, 46.

_Doflein, Franz_, 59.

Dreams, 9–10, 37–9, 41, 44.
Anxiety-, 38.
during psycho-analysis, 38.
Function of, 37–8.
in traumatic neuroses, 37–8.
-life, 9.
of shock-patients, 24.
Punishment, 38.
Wish-fulfilment tendency of, 10.

Dualistic standpoint of psycho-analysis, 67.

Dynamic, 1, 19, 53, 57, 62.

Economic, 1, 11, 16, 41, 53.

Ego, 5, 6, 19, 20, 24, 64, 66–70, 75, 78–9.
Analysis of, 68, 69.
Coherent, 19.
-conflict, 39.
Conscious, 19, 20.
-feeling, 20.
instinct. _See under_ Instinct.
Kernel of, 19.
Libidinous components of, 68.
Libido directed towards, 65–6.
Masochistic tendencies of, 10.
Preconscious, 19, 20.
Psychological, 65.

Embryology, 29, 45.

Energy, 5, 31, 36.
Binding of, 36.
Bound, 30, 82.
charges, 34, 35.
Charging, 34.
Free, 30.
Free-flowing, 36, 80.
Instinctive, 67.
Propagation of, 28.
-transformations, 31.
Unbound, 82.
Quiescent, 36, 80.

Eros, 64, 67, 69, 79.

Excitation, 29, 33, 34, 39, 41, 42, 81, 82.
Barrier against, 41.
Bound, 81.
Disturbing, 38.
External, 34.
from within, 32, 33.
Heightened state of, 81.
Inner, 4.
Instinct, 42, 81.
Instinctive, 80.
Mass of, 33, 35, 37.
Quantity of, 2, 3, 81.
Perceptions of, 26.
processes, 25, 27–30, 35.
Propagation of, 28.
Sexual, 39.
Traces of, 27, 30.
Traumatic, 34.
Unbound, 81.

Experiences:
Painful, 6, 13;
repeated as a game, 13, 15, 43.
Pleasurable, 43.
Primary e. of satisfaction, 53.
Repetition of identical, 22, 23.
Revival of past, 20.
Traumatic, 10.

Fate, 22, 23, 24.

Fear, 9.

_Fechner, G. Th._, 3, 4.

Feeling, 2.
Ego-, 20.
Hostile, 15.
of ‘pain’, 26, 33.
of pleasure, 26, 33.
Painful, 20.
Pleasure-pain, 4, 33.

_Ferenczi_, 10, 52.

Fixation, 20.

_Fliess, W._, 56.

Fright, 9, 36, 37.
-neurosis, 9.

Furcht, 9.

Game:
Child’s, 12.
Meaning of, 13.
Painful experience repeated as, 13, 15, 43.
Repetition of, 43.

Genital primacy, 69.

Germ cell, 45, 54, 56, 64, 72, 76.
Narcissistic behaviour of, 63.

Germ-plasm, 57, 58, 62.

Goal, 47, 53.
Life-, 49.
Tendency towards, 4.
of life, 47–9, 51.
of organic striving, 47.

_Goette_, 59.

_Gomperz, Prof. Hein._, 74.

_Hartmann, Max_, 59.

Hate, 68, 69.

Heredity, 45, 57.

_Hering, E._, 62.

‘Hunger and Love’, 65.

Imitation impulse, 16.

Immortality, 50, 54, 56–62, 72.
of protozoa, 60.
of unicellular beings, 59.

Impulse, 7, 14, 22, 51.
Conscious, 3.
Contemned, 38.
Imitation, 16.
Libidinous, 68.
of revenge, 14.
Play, 24.
Repressed, 20.
Sadistic, 69.
Stages of, 51.
towards higher development, 51.
towards perfection, 52–3.

Inertia, in organic life, 45.

Infantile:
influences, 22.
life, 44.
psychic life, 43.
sex-life, 18, 20.

Inferiority complex, 21.

Inheritance tendencies, 73.

Inherited instinctive dispositions, 49.

Instability, conditions of, 3.

Instinct, 5, 6, 41, 46, 48–53, 64–8, 70, 73–4, 77, 79–80, 82–3.
Aim of, 46.
compelling repetition, 46.
Conception of, 44–5.
Conservative, 46, 48;
c. ego-, 54;
c. organic, 47;
c. sexual, 50.
Death-, 54–5, 58–9, 62–3, 67–9, 71–3, 77, 79, 82–3.
Destruction-, 79.
Ego-, 51, 54–5, 64, 66–8, 79;
Libidinous nature of, 79.
Egoistic-, 79.
excitations, 42, 81.
First, 47.
Foregoing the satisfaction of, 13.
for reunion, 76.
Inborn, 5.
Libidinous, 67–8, 79.
Life-, 50–1, 54–5, 57, 62–3, 67–8, 73, 77, 79, 82.
Narcissistic, 79.
Nature of, 44.
Object-, 79.
of self-assertion, 48.
Part-, 48, 69, 70, 80.
Power-, 14, 48.
Regressive character of, 76.
Repression of, 52.
Self-preservative, 5, 48, 49, 64, 66, 67, 68, 79.
Sexual, 49–51, 54, 55, 57, 63–8, 70, 72, 78, 79;
libidinous, 79,
libidinous components of, 69,
origin of, 74.
Theory of, 68, 70, 76.
Two kinds of, 57.
Unsatisfied, 6.
Vital, 63, 64.

Introversion, 66.

Investment-energy, quiescent (bound) and free-moving, 30.
_See_ Charge.

Jealousy, 14, 21, 22.

_Jung, C. G._, 23, 67.

Katabolic processes, 63.

Libido, 64–7, 79.
concept, 65, 70, 79.
development, 66.
directed towards the ego, 65–6.
distribution, 39–40.
Narcissistic, 66–7, 69, 79.
Oral stages of, 69.
quantities, 67.
Reservoir of, 66.
theory, 40, 63, 64, 67.

Life, 47–8, 50, 55, 58, 62, 63.
Beginnings of, 79.
Dawn of, 51.
Forces tending to preserve, 62.
Goal of. _See under_ Goal.
-instincts. _See under_ Instincts.
Instinctive, 62.
Length of, 56.
Love-, 69.
Menace to, 36.
process, 71.
Prolongation of, 54, 58, 63, 73.
Properties of, 47.
Renewal of, 57, 71, 73.
Rhythm in, 50–1.
Stimuli dangerous to, 76.

_Lipschütz, Alex._, 59, 60, 71.

_Loeb, J._, 61.

Love, 21, 68, 69.

_Low, Barbara_, 71.

_Marcinowski_, 21.

Masochistic tendencies of the ego, 10.

Masochism, 70.
primary, 70.

_Maupas_, 60.

Mechanical:
concussion, 39.
force, 39.
shock, 8.
stimuli, 7.

Memory, 22, 28.
-records, 27.
-traces, 27–8;
repressed, 44.

Metabolism, 58, 61, 71.

Metapsychology, 1, 26, 35.

Metazoa, 57.

Multicellular organisms, 57–8, 63, 76.

Narcissism, 68, 76.

Narcissistic:
behaviour of germ cells, 63.
instincts, 79.
libido, 66, 67, 69, 79.
over-charging of the injured part, 39–40.
scar, 20.

Neuroses, 8–9, 18, 39.
Fright-, 9.
Shock, 10.
Theory of the, 49, 50, 64.

Nirvana-principle, 71.

Object, 63–6, 69, 70, 74, 78–9.
Annihilation of, 69.
Charging of, 64.
Injury of, 69.
-instinct, 79.
Libidinous investment of, 66.
-love, 68.
Sex-, 69.

Oedipus complex, 18.

Oral stage of libido, 69.

Organic:
compulsion to repetition, 45.
development, 47.

Pain, 35.
Bodily, 34.

‘Pain’, 1–3, 5–6, 20, 22, 26, 33, 38, 80–2.
Avoidance of, 1, 38.
feelings, 33.
Feelings (_Empfindungen_) of, 26.
Neurotic, 6.
Sensations of, 81.

Part-instinct, 48, 69, 70, 80.

Perfection, impulse towards, 52.

_Pfeifer, S._, 11.

Philosophy, 1, 2, 63, 65.

_Plato_, 74–5.

Play:
-impulse, 24.
of children, 11–16, 43.
Motive of, 16.

Pleasure, 1–6, 11, 15, 16, 22, 26, 33, 38, 52, 81.

Pleasure-pain, 4, 33, 82.

Pleasure-principle, 1–7, 13, 15–16, 20, 24–5, 34, 37–9, 42–4, 71, 80–3.
Beyond the, 16, 24, 38.
Dominance of, 82.
Frustration of, 4–6.
Replaced by reality-principle, 5.
Supremacy of, 3.
Tendencies beyond, 16.

Pleasure-tendency, 4.

Power-instinct, 14.

Preconscious, 19, 41.
ego, 19, 20.
material, 42.
residues, 42.

Pregenital organisation, 69.

Primary:
experience of satisfaction, 53.
Masochism, 70.
process, 80, 81.

Projection, 33.

Propagation, 57–9, 65, 69, 72.
and death, 59.
Death the consequence of, 59.
Function of, 79.
of energy, 28.
Sexual, 60, 72.

Protective barrier, 31, 37, 41, 76.

Protozoa, 55, 58–62, 70–1, 73, 76.
Immortality of, 60.

Psychic:
apparatus, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 26, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 80, 81.
life, 2, 3, 15, 19, 24, 25, 34, 38, 71, 80, 82.
processes, 1, 4, 9, 26;
conscious, 32,
primary, 42,
secondary, 42.
systems, 27, 28, 30, 34, 35, 36.

Punishment dreams, 38.

_Pythagoras_, 75.

_Rank_, 70.

Reaction-formation, 53, 65.

Reality-principle, 5, 7, 20, 42.
Pleasure-principle replaced by, 5.

Regression, 46, 52, 70.

Regressive character of:
ego-instincts, 54.
instincts, 76.

Re-incarnation, 75.

Reinstatement of:
earlier condition, 44, 46, 51, 74, 80.
lifelessness, 54.

Rejuvenation, 60, 63, 71, 73.

Repetition, 18, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49, 52, 55, 72.
Endless r. of the same, 23.
Instincts compelling, 46.
of identical experiences, 22–3,
processes, 80.

Repetition-compulsion, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 38, 39, 42, 44, 55, 72, 76.
Organic, 45.

Repressed:
impulses, 20.
instinct, 52.
material, 19, 20.
memory-traces, 44.
sex-impulses, 6.
The, 19, 38.

Repressing agency, 65.

Repression, 6, 18, 19, 24, 53.
of instinct, 52.

Reproductive cells, 49, 50, 57.

Resistance, 17, 19, 20, 24, 30, 53.

Retrogression, 51–2.

Return to:
lifelessness, 47.
the inorganic, 48, 81.

_Rückert_, 83.

Sadism, 69, 70.

_Schopenhauer_, 63.

Secondary process, 44, 80, 81, 82.

Self-preservation:
Instinct of, 5, 48, 49, 64, 66, 68, 79.
Libidinous character of, 67.

Sex, 57, 73, 78.
distinction, 51.
impulses, 5;
repressed, 6.
-life, infantile, 18, 20.
-object, 69.
-quest, 21.

Sexuality, 51, 65, 57.
Conception of, 76.
Origin of, 73.

Shock, 36.
-dream, 24.
Dreams of s. patients, 24.
Mechanical, 8.
neuroses, 10.
theory, 36.

_Simmel_, 10.

_Spielrein, Sabina_, 70.

Stability:
Conditions of, 3.
Tendency towards, 4.

_Stärcke, A._, 70.

Stimulation, 83.
Protection against, 30, 32.

Stimuli, 29–34, 37, 41, 50, 52, 76, 83.
Barrier against, 33, 34, 36, 37.
Chemical, 71.
Control of, 37.
dangerous to life, 76.
Defence against, 37.
Mechanical, 71.
Protection against, 31, 33.
Reception of, 29, 31, 32.

Stimulus masses, 31, 34, 71.

Sublimation, 52, 53.

System:
Bw., 26, 28, 29.
W-Bw., 26, 27, 32.

_Tasso_, 23.

Tension, 82.
Unpleasant state of, 1.
Chemical, 71.
Relaxation of, 1, 53.

Trauma, 34, 37, 39.
External, 34.
Fixation on, 10.

Traumatic:
excitation, 34.
experiences, 10.
impressions, 39.
neurosis, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42;
dreams in, 37, 38.
neurosis of peace, 8.

Unconscious, 17, 19, 27.
charges, 41.
mental process ‘timeless’, 32.
processes, 26, 27.
resistances, 19.
Systems, 41–2.
The, 19, 42.

Unicellular beings, 57, 59, 63.
Immortality of, 59.

Upanishads, 75.

Vesicle, 29, 30, 31, 32.

War neuroses, 8, 9, 10, 39.

W-Bw., the system, 26–7, 32.

_Weismann, A._, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 73.

Wish-fulfilment, 37, 38.
tendency of dreams, 10;
prehistoric past of, 38.

_Woodruff_, 59, 60, 61.

_Ziegler, K._, 75.

-----

Footnote 1:

op. cit., p. 90.

Footnote 2:

Cp. Psycho-Analysis and the War Neuroses, by Ferenczi, Abraham, Simmel
and Ernest Jones; No. 2 of the International Psycho-Analytical
Library, 1921.

Footnote 3:

1919, Bd. V, S. 243.

Footnote 4:

This interpretation was fully established by a further observation.
One day when the mother had been out for some hours she was greeted on
her return by the information ‘Baby o-o-o-o’ which at first remained
unintelligible. It soon proved that during his long lonely hours he
had found a method of bringing about his own disappearance. He had
discovered his reflection in the long mirror which nearly reached to
the ground and had then crouched down in front of it, so that the
reflection was ‘_fort_’.

Footnote 5:

When the child was five and three-quarter years old his mother died.
Now, when she was really ‘gone’ (o-o-o), the boy showed no grief for
her. A second child had, it is true, been born in the meantime and had
aroused his strongest jealousy.

Footnote 6:

Cp. ‘Eine Kindheitserinnerung aus “Dichtung und Wahrheit”.’ _Imago_,
1917, Bd. V, S. 49.

Footnote 7:

See ‘Zur Technik der Psychoanalyse. II. Erinnern, Wiederholen und
Durcharbeiten.’ Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre. IV.
Folge, 1918, S. 441.

Footnote 8:

Marcinowski: ‘Die erotischen Quellen der Minderwertigkeitsgefühle’,
_Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft_, 1918, IV.

Footnote 9:

Cp. the pertinent observations of C. G. Jung in his article ‘Die
Bedeutung des Vaters für das Schicksal des Einzelnen’. _Jahrbuch für
psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen_, 1901, Bd. I.

Footnote 10:

Thus named after the German words _Wahrnehmung_ (= perception) and
_Bewußtsein_ (= consciousness).

Footnote 11:

Here I follow throughout J. Breuer’s exposition in the theoretical
section of the ‘Studien über Hysterie’, 1895.

Footnote 12:

J. Breuer and S. Freud: Studien über Hysterie.

Footnote 13:

Cp. ‘Triebe und Triebschicksale’, Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur
Neurosenlehre. IV. Folge, 1918.

Footnote 14:

Psycho-Analysis and the War Neuroses. Introduction. International
Psycho-Analytical Library. No. 2, 1921.

Footnote 15:

Cp. Section VII, ‘Psychology of the Dream-Processes’ in my
‘Traumdeutung’.

Footnote 16:

I have little doubt that similar conjectures about the nature of
instinct have been already repeatedly put forward.

Footnote 17:

Compare the subsequent criticism of this extreme view of the
self-preservative instincts.

Footnote 18:

By a different route Ferenczi has arrived at the possibility of this
conception. (‘Stages of Development in the Sense of Reality’. Ch. VIII
of his Contributions to Psycho-Analysis, 1916.) He writes: ‘By
following through this process of thought logically one is obliged to
gain familiarity with the idea of a tendency to persistence or
regression governing organic life also, while the tendency to progress
in development, adaptation, etc. is manifested only as against
external stimuli.’

Footnote 19:

Über die Dauer des Lebens, 1882; Über Leben und Tod, 2. Aufl., 1892;
Das Keimplasma, 1892, etc.

Footnote 20:

Über Leben und Tod, 2. Aufl., S. 20.

Footnote 21:

Über die Dauer des Lebens, S. 38.

Footnote 22:

Über Leben und Tod, 2. Aufl., S. 67.

Footnote 23:

Über die Dauer des Lebens, S. 33.

Footnote 24:

Über Leben und Tod. Conclusion.

Footnote 25:

Cp. Max Hartmann: Tod und Fortpflanzung, 1906; Alex. Lipschütz: ‘Warum
wir sterben’, _Kosmosbücher_, 1914; Franz Doflein: Das Problem des
Todes und der Unsterblichkeit bei den Pflanzen und Tieren, 1919.

Footnote 26:

Hartmann: loc. cit., S. 29.

Footnote 27:

For this and what follows see Lipschütz: Loc. cit., S. 26 and 52 ff.

Footnote 28:

‘Über die anscheinende Absichtlichkeit im Schicksale des Einzelnen’.
Großherzog Wilhelm Ernst Auflage, Bd. IV, S. 268.

Footnote 29:

‘Zur Einführung des Narzissmus’, _Jahrbuch der Psychoanalyse_, Bd. VI,
1914, and Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre, IV. Folge,
1918.

Footnote 30:

Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, from the First Edition, 1905,
onwards.

Footnote 31:

See Sexualtheorie, 4. Aufl., 1920, and ‘Triebe und Triebschicksale’ in
Sammlung kleiner Schriften, IV. Folge.

Footnote 32:

A considerable part of this speculation has been anticipated in a work
which is full of valuable matter and ideas but is unfortunately not
entirely clear to me: (Sabina Spielrein: ‘Die Destruktion als Ursache
des Werdens’, _Jahrbuch für Psychoanalyse_, IV, 1912). She designates
the sadistic component as ‘destructive’. In still another way A.
Stärcke (Inleiding by de vertaling von S. Freud, De sexuele
beschavingsmoral etc., 1914) has attempted to identify the libido
concept itself with the biological concept of an impulsion towards
death which is to be assumed on theoretical grounds (Cp. also Rank:
‘Der Künstler’). All these attempts, as the one in the text, indicate
how much the need is felt for a clarification in the theory of
instinct which we do not yet possess.

Footnote 33:

loc. cit.

Footnote 34:

Although Weismann (Das Keimplasma, 1892) denies even this advantage:
‘Fertilisation in no way signifies a rejuvenation or renewing of
life,—it is in no way necessary for the prolongation of life; it is
nothing but a device for making possible the blending of two different
inheritance tendencies.’ Still, he considers an increase of
variability in living organisms to be the result of such blending.

Footnote 35:

I am indebted to Prof. Heinrich Gomperz of Vienna for the following
indications as to the origin of the Platonic myth, which I repeat
partly in his own words: I should like to call attention to the fact
that essentially the same theory is also to be found in the
Upanishads. The Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad 1, 4, 3 (Deussen, 60
Upanishads des Veda, S. 393), where the creation of the world from the
Âtman (the self or ego) is described, has the following passage ‘Nor
did he (the Âtman, the self or ego) experience any joy, and for that
reason no one has joy when he is alone. So he longed for a partner. He
was as big as a woman and a man together when they embrace. He divided
himself into two parts, which made a husband and a wife. This body is
therefore one half of the self, according to Yajnavalkya. And for the
same reason this empty space here becomes filled by the woman.’

The Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad is the oldest of all the Upanishads, and
no expert authority would date it later than 800 B.C. In opposition to
the prevailing opinion I should not like definitely to deny the
possibility of Plato having been dependent, even though very
indirectly, on these Indian thoughts, for this possibility cannot be
absolutely put aside even for the doctrine of re-incarnation. A
dependence of this sort, first conveyed through Pythagoras, would
scarcely detract from the significance of the coincidence in thought,
for Plato would not have adopted any such story conveyed in some way
from Oriental traditions, let alone have given it such an important
place, had he not himself felt the truth contained in it to be
illuminating.

In an article by K. Ziegler (‘Menschen- und Weltwerden’, _Neue
Fahrbücher für das klassische Altertum_, 1913, Band XXXI), which
contains a systematic investigation of the thought in question, it is
traced back to Babylonian ideas.

Footnote 36:

I would here subjoin a few words to clarify our nomenclature, one
which has undergone a certain development in the course of our
discussion. What ‘sexual instincts’ are, we knew through their
relation to the sexes and to the function of propagation. We then
retained this term when the findings of psycho-analysis compelled us
to regard its relation to propagation as less close. With the
discovery of narcissistic libido, and the extension of the libido
concept to the individual cells, the sexual instinct became for us
transformed into the Eros that endeavours to impel the separate parts
of living matter to one another and to hold them together; what is
commonly called the sexual instinct appears as that part of the Eros
that is turned towards the object. Our speculation then supposes that
this Eros is at work from the beginnings of life, manifesting itself
as the ‘life-instinct’ in contradistinction to the ‘death-instinct’
which developed through the animation of the inorganic. It endeavours
to solve the riddle of life by the hypothesis of these two instincts
striving with each other from the very beginning. The transformation
which the concept of the ‘ego-instincts’ has undergone is perhaps
harder to review. Originally we applied this term to all those
instinct-directions—not better known to us—which can be distinguished
from the sexual instincts that have the object as their aim, thus
contrasting the ego-instincts with the sexual ones, the expression of
which is the libido. Later on we approached the analysis of the ego
and saw that a part also of the ‘ego-instincts’ is of a libidinous
nature, having taken its own self as an object. These narcissistic
instincts of self-preservation therefore had now to be reckoned to the
libidinous sexual instincts. The contrast between egoistic and sexual
instincts was now converted into one between egoistic and
object-instincts, both libidinous in nature. In its place, however,
arose a new contrast between libidinous (ego and object) instincts and
others whose existence can be determined in the ego and can perhaps be
detected in the destruction-instincts. Speculation transforms this
contrast into that of life-instincts (Eros) and death-instincts.

Footnote 37:

Rückert in the ‘Makamen des Hariri.’

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last chapter. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.