Eros and thanatos psychology. Thanatos 2022-10-05
Eros and thanatos psychology
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Eros and Thanatos are two fundamental drives that influence human behavior and psychology, according to the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud. Eros, also known as the life instinct, represents the drive towards pleasure, sex, and reproduction, while Thanatos, also known as the death instinct, represents the drive towards aggression, destruction, and death.
Freud believed that these two instincts are in constant tension within the human psyche, and that the balance between them determines an individual's psychological well-being. He argued that if Eros is dominant, the individual will be motivated by the desire for pleasure and will seek out healthy and fulfilling relationships. On the other hand, if Thanatos is dominant, the individual may be prone to aggression, self-destructive behavior, and a desire for death.
One of the key ways in which these two drives manifest in human behavior is through the concept of repression. Repression is the psychological mechanism that pushes unwanted or unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and desires into the unconscious mind in order to avoid conflict or discomfort. According to Freud, repression is necessary for the individual to maintain a sense of psychological stability and balance. However, if repression becomes excessive, it can lead to neurosis and other mental health problems.
Eros and Thanatos also play a role in the development of the ego and the superego. The ego is the part of the psyche that mediates between the demands of the outside world and the individual's own desires and needs. The superego, on the other hand, is the part of the psyche that represents the internalized values and morals of society. Freud argued that the ego strives to balance the demands of the id (which represents the pleasure principle and is driven by Eros) and the superego (which represents the moral principle and is driven by Thanatos).
In conclusion, Eros and Thanatos are two fundamental drives that influence human behavior and psychology. They are in constant tension within the human psyche and play a role in the development of the ego and superego, as well as in the process of repression. Understanding these drives can provide insight into the underlying motivations and conflicts that shape an individual's psychological well-being.
Carl Jung on âEros.â Anthology
Thanatos - Mythology In Greek myths, people tried to answer the exciting questions, to comprehend being. This suggests that Eros does not tend toward the right, the side of consciousness, conscious will and conscious choice, but toward the side of the heart, which is less subject to our conscious will. In short, we will never be fully satisfied. Do you exhibit happiness, love, and compassion? The US Library of Congress: Golden River Music. Alchemy, described as the Great Science, brings everything together.
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Eros and Thanatos: How these are Different from One Another
Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, conducted an experiment focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. That way, we start loving to satisfy our need of being-loved; this is called secondary narcissism. The Importance of Duality As we've discussed, Freud believed that Eros and Thanatos are so intertwined that one cannot exist without the other. He dissolves everything formed and physical; he is the destroyer in whom everything becomes nothing. After all, it is physically impossible for us to return into the womb, and if this desire is to be met, deviations need to be found that will offer it a worthy alternative, a similar satisfaction. The will to the first expresses Eros - the instinct of self-preservation and sexuality. Eros and Thanatos According to Freud, Eros is just one part of a dual system.
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Eros Definition
This drive compels people to engage in actions that sustain their own lives, such as looking after their health and safety. Interesting note: Collectively, humanity is moving up the 25th path. The cells keep each other alive, and it is from the outside that the survival of the single cell is first maintained. So, what would happen if these two instincts became untied? At the same time, they can only be useful once they have really been established as principles, and not as arbitrary concepts. With death you can not joke, but you should not forget about it. Thanatos has a twin brother, Hypnos, who is the god of sleep. Displacing the primal condition Regarding the question of what it is that the two drives want to repeat which condition they want to reinstate , we can note another interesting displacement.
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Life and Death Drive: FreudââŹâ˘s Thanatos and Eros Theory
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In defining these drives, Freud is using a dualist approach, whereby the identification of Eros automatically defines an opposite. On the other hand, it is once again the prohibition of our surrounding that does not accept this kind of behaviour and forces the individual being to seek other objects of desire. It was a simple enough task for Eros, he'd caused many souls to fall in love before. Let's consider the following scenario: suppose that we as humans were suddenly able to tap totally into our Eros energy and avoid all Thanatos energy. While we tend to think of life instincts in terms of sexual procreation, these drives also include instincts such as thirst, hunger, and pain avoidance. Opposite from life instinct is the death instinct.
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Eros and Thanatos: Freudâs two fundamental drives
The duality of the two is important because if Eros and Thanatos are not dynamically involved we experience non-life, but if they work in collaboration, we have life. The ancient Greeks believed that sometimes Tanat gives a second chance at life. Thanatology is the academic and scientific study of death among human beings. Wounded, Eros leaves his wife, and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love. The ego and the id. The Greek romances of Heliodorus, Longus and Achilles Tatius; comprising the Ethiopics; or, Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea; The pastoral amours of Daphnis and Chloe; and The loves of Citopho and Leucippe.
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What is Thanatos in psychology?
But as he himself admits, the breast is not always at hand, and the baby already feels displeasure. Eros is portrayed as nice, compassionate, loving, and full of life. The death drive is not about survival, which is after all about self-preservation, it is quite the contrary: the impulse to find the shortest path towards decomposition. What would the planet be like then? It is all about balance, and psychoanalytic theory explores in-depth how to attain such balance between life forces. The fulfilment of the pleasure principle is death, while Eros irritates it, adds tension. Differently speaking: by itself, the cell would fall prey to the death drive and self-destruct immediately, but if it becomes the object for another cell, thereby becoming incorporated into a higher unity, this course undergoes a deviation.
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Eros in Psychology
Yet, the pleasure principle is itself also derived, namely from the principle of constancy Konstanzprinzip , a principle that does not originate from life, but from the constant course of the universe, the continuity of the physical laws. Psychoanalyst and psychotherapist Ben Kafka, associate professor at New York University, believes the concept to be flawed and not particularly relevant to contemporary life. If the creation of higher unities for Freud is the result of Eros, and Eros is inherently bound to life, we can interpret the condition of the inorganic physical world as one of complete dissolution. In early psychonalytic writings, instincts from the Eros were opposed by forces from the ego. Freud did not name it that. But if the narcissistic ego drives, the survival instinct, also belongs to Eros, then the opposite drive also needs to be reconsidered. The higher form of Eros, its displaced repetition, is the activity of loving, a giving kind of love.
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Thanatos
From the god of eternal darkness, Erebus, Nyukta gave birth to sons and daughters. The higher forms of Eros and Thanatos We can see this clearly in the case of Eros. These two opposing phenomena are dual and bear the names of the Greek gods in psychology. These characteristics are portrayed in those who are driven by death instincts. ~Carl Jung; Memories Dreams and Reflections; Late Thoughts; Page 353. Or maybe when an action fails to fully satisfy, the resulting frustration and indignity increases tension to the point where we seek the nearest potential gratification, which is to attempt the act again. ~The Secret of the Golden Flower, Page 11.
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