Beyond the Pleasure Principle

In this section, Freud establishes a distinction between the rest of the essay and the previous three sections. He proposes that what follows is a speculation—an exploration of his ideas about how all his theories interact with the notion that another force may be driving human behavior and motivation. Therefore, the essay is both contextually and tonally split in two. The first half presents a confident Freud, boldly asserting the truth of his earlier theories and challenging those who seek to discredit them. While he focuses the first three sections on providing evidence for his theories, the evidence is sparse and mostly subjective. In doing so, Freud attempts to establish the pleasure principle and his construction of the psyche as the accepted norm in psychoanalytical research. He sees no need to provide ample evidence of his claims as he has already proven them and feels they need no further explanation.

In the following sections, however, Freud’s tone shifts. Often, at the end of chapters, he confesses that he does not have total confidence in the theory he is setting forth, but he proposes that it is important to follow the line of inquiry forward to its logical conclusion anyway. Freud’s study of Trauma and the Unconscious would eventually create a bedrock for future research into trauma. Here, Freud carries the role of psychic economy and equilibrium in maintaining balance between the reality principle and the pleasure principle into the world of trauma. He proposes that it is the function of the conscious and unconscious to work together to regulate and manage external stimuli. It is the constant push and pull between these two forces that creates balance.

Trauma occurs when a stimulus, internal or external, poses a danger that has no outward manifestation of reaction. Freud argues that when an individual cannot outwardly respond to a trauma, the trauma is then internalized and kept out of sight of consciousness: “In the unconscious, cathexes can easily be completely transferred, displaced and condensed” (34). In Section 4, Freud connects ideas to different regions of the brain. Since Freud’s ideas about the brain reflect the accepted science of his time, it is important to focus on the psychological implications of his work rather than relate them to sound neuroscientific research.

Freud connects several seemingly disparate ideas into the idea of conflict and equilibrium. Trauma creates conflict between the superego and the id, trapping psychic energy in an eternal loop. The compulsion to repeat is the internal manifestation of this entrapment, as the mind seeks a way to manage excess energy through anxiety. Freud extends conflict and equilibrium to also encompass Eros and Thanatos, or The Compulsion for Life and Death, which he perceives to be a part of how humans perceive and manage trauma. His exploration of trauma and repetition causes him to rethink fundamental drives as he contends with the ways in which humans do not always seek pleasure in their experiences. As his patients engaged in behaviors that caused them to repeatedly engage with unpleasurable experiences and memories, Freud wondered if another force may be at play. This led him to the construction of Thanatos as an opposition to the life drive.

In Section 5, Freud speculates if two drives—one for life and one for death—might encompass ideas like trauma and the pleasure principle into an all-encompassing theory. Humans, like all living creatures, seek life through creation, reproduction, and sex. Freud maintains the importance of sexual libido in human experience and drive, dismissing those who suggest he is too singularly focused on its impact. Freud argues that sexual libido is an important part of the life drive. In contrast, the death drive, or Thanatos, seeks destruction and death. 

As Freud tries to unwrap how an individual might feel compelled toward death, he realizes that both are an important part of maintaining equilibrium. As Freud believes that creating balance is the primary function of the pleasure principle, he determines that there is also pleasure to be found in destruction and violence.