Concept
Destruction as the cause of coming into being
Sabina Spielrein’s thesis, set out in 1912, that the reproductive or sexual drive consists of two antagonistic components, one destructive and one of becoming. Because reproduction requires the individual to dissolve, the “I” passing into a “we”, the drive to preserve the species works against the drive of self-preservation, which accounts for the anxiety and disgust that accompany sexuality; new life comes into being only through the destruction of the old. In 1920 Freud acknowledged the idea as anticipating part of his theory of the death drive.
- Introduced by
- Sabina Spielrein
- Key works
- 2
- Related
- Death drive
introduced by
- Sabina Spielrein 1912 Spielrein set out the thesis in Die Destruktion als Ursache des Werdens (1912), concluding that the reproductive drive consists, psychologically as well, of two antagonistic components, and that becoming is the result of destruction.
diverged into
- Death drive 1920 Freud acknowledged that Spielrein had anticipated part of his speculation, but where she placed destruction inside the reproductive drive, as one of its two antagonistic components, he set the death drives apart from and against the life or sexual drives.