Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Norton Library)

No one writes Freud like Freud does. Import for students and readers who want a concept pact sample of his thought and writing style.

Well! Atlast! We now know that watching reruns of "I love Lucie" or getting drunk or recollecting scary times is all just one big temporary relief from life. finally,the truth; sex and/or drugs is just another way of saying "I don't really wanna be here!!

Here Freud posits the concept of a death instinct, in opposition to Eros. Each stratum of life has an instinct to revert to the one before it, and therefore the earliest life, which grew out of inorganic matter, has an instinct to revert back to inorganic matter via death. Frued is, whatever one may think of him, an original and brilliant thinker, and that's evidenced here. I did not provide five stars as the theory's broader ramifications are not really developed here. The majority of the book is an investigation of a few instances that led him to develop the theory, and a survey of the biological sciences of the day, with a discussion of how biological evidence confirms/denies his idea. This is a rather abstruse discussion that has dated somewhat. The broader ramifications are left mostly to the reader, and are of great interest. For me, it was interesting to connect the idea to Erich Fromm's later theme of mankind's impulse to revert to earlier fixations and an escape from freedom. There is also a consoncance (though an ironic and not a straightforward one) between Freud's concept of the opposing life and death instincts with Moses' declaration: "I have set before thee on this day life and good, death and evil. Choose life..."

This is a great resource. The price could not be beat on amazon.

A stunningly creative piece of writing from the master of interpretation.

Oh Sig. You were so ahead of your time! Too bad the process of being taken seriously, by academia, means writing in that particular language.

Thanks

Essentially explains why many of us repeat destructive behaviors over and over. This is a short book, but anything but a "quick read". Unless you were a psych major it's gonna be tough going. But definitely worth the time. Of course Freud was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. Surprisingly, recommended for Day Traders, of which I am one.