In Freudian

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

, the pleasure principle () is the instinctive seeking of

pleasure Pleasure is experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something. It contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad. It is closely related to value, desire and action: humans and other conscious animals find ...

and avoiding of

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...

to satisfy biological and psychological

need A need is a deficiency at a point of time and in a given context. Needs are distinguished from wants. In the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. In other words, a need is something required for a ...

s. Specifically, the pleasure principle is the animating force behind the id.

Precursors

Epicurus Epicurus (, ; ; 341–270 BC) was an Greek philosophy, ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy that asserted that philosophy's purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain tranqui ...

in the ancient world, and later

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. 5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S.– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...

, laid stress upon the role of pleasure in directing human life, the latter stating: "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, ''pain'' and ''pleasure''". Freud's most immediate predecessor and guide however was

Gustav Theodor Fechner Gustav Theodor Fechner (; ; 19 April 1801 – 18 November 1887) was a German physicist, philosopher, and experimental psychologist. A pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics (techniques for measuring the mind), he inspired ...

and his

psychophysics Psychophysics is the field of psychology which quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimulus (physiology), stimuli and the sensation (psychology), sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described ...

Freudian developments

Freud used the idea that the mind seeks pleasure and avoids pain in his ''Project for a Scientific Psychology'' of 1895, as well as in the theoretical portion of '' The Interpretation of Dreams'' of 1900, where he termed it the 'unpleasure principle'.''On Metapsychology'', p. 36. In the ''Two Principles of Mental Functioning'' of 1911, contrasting it with the

reality principle In Freudian psychology and psychoanalysis, the reality principle () is the ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting according to the pleasure principle. The reality prin ...

, Freud spoke for the first time of "the pleasure-unpleasure principle, or more shortly the pleasure principle". In 1923, linking the pleasure principle to the

libido In psychology, libido (; ) is psychic drive or energy, usually conceived of as sexual in nature, but sometimes conceived of as including other forms of desire. The term ''libido'' was originally developed by Sigmund Freud, the pioneering origin ...

he described it as the watchman over life; and in '' Civilization and Its Discontents'' of 1930 he still considered that "what decides the purpose of life is simply the programme of the pleasure principle". While on occasion Freud wrote of the near

omnipotence Omnipotence is the property of possessing maximal power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as ...

of the pleasure principle in mental life, elsewhere he referred more cautiously to the mind's strong (but not always fulfilled) ''tendency'' towards the pleasure principle.

Two principles

Freud contrasted the pleasure principle with the counterpart concept of the

, which describes the capacity to defer gratification of a desire when circumstantial reality disallows its immediate gratification. In infant and early childhood, the id rules behavior by obeying only the pleasure principle. People at that age only seek immediate gratification, aiming to satisfy cravings such as hunger and thirst, and at later ages the id seeks out sex.Sigmund Freud, ''Introductory Lectures'' 16.357. Maturity is learning to endure the pain of deferred gratification. Freud argued that "an ego thus educated has become 'reasonable'; it no longer lets itself be governed by the pleasure principle, but obeys the reality principle, which also, at bottom, seeks to obtain pleasure, but pleasure which is assured through taking account of reality, even though it is pleasure postponed and diminished".

The beyond

In his book '' Beyond the Pleasure Principle'', published in 1921, Freud considered the possibility of "the operation of tendencies ''beyond'' the pleasure principle, that is, of tendencies more primitive than it and independent of it". By examining the role of repetition compulsion in potentially over-riding the pleasure principle,''On Metapsychology'', p. 293. Freud ultimately developed his opposition between

Libido In psychology, libido (; ) is psychic drive or energy, usually conceived of as sexual in nature, but sometimes conceived of as including other forms of desire. The term ''libido'' was originally developed by Sigmund Freud, the pioneering origin ...

, the life instinct, and the

death drive In classical psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, the death drive () is the Drive theory, drive toward destruction in the sense of breaking down complex phenomena into their constituent parts or bringing life back to its inanimate 'dead' state, often ...

References

External links