#+title: death drive

Death drive is the [[file:20200707090558-psychoanalysis.org][psychoanalytic]] term used to describe a particular kind of
self-destructive [[file:20210509131706-drive_theory.org][drive]]. It is a self-undermining motive. In contrast to the
[[file:20210613141231-pleasure_principle.org][pleasure principle]], the death drive is about a constant self-undermining so as
to continuously experience excitation. [[file:20200707090939-sigmund_freud.org][Freud]] came to believe that the
pleasure principle is in service to the death drive.

[[file:20200707090939-sigmund_freud.org][Freud]] describes the death drive in /Beyond the Pleasure Principle/, noting that
soldiers who had experienced some kind of trauma continued to relive their
trauma.

[[file:20200707090939-sigmund_freud.org][Freud]] contrasts the death drive with the [[file:20210613141231-pleasure_principle.org][pleasure principle]].

#+begin_quote
The aim of all life is death.
--- Sigmund Freud
#+end_quote

[[file:20200707090614-jacques_lacan.org][Lacan]] believed that every drive was ultimately a death drive, and was
intrinsically linked to the concept of [[file:20200707091710-jouissance.org][jouissance]].