This essay attempts to examine whether it is possible to find a mutual understanding of the concept of drive between Spinoza?s philosophy and Freud?s psychoanalytical theory. Former texts on this subject have given a variety of conclusions: from a radical separation between the two authors to a complete identification between the two. The drive, or the desire which is the term Spinoza uses, has in Spinoza?s philosophy its foundation in the concept of Conatus.

This thesis deals with the concepts of individual and individuation as defined by Leibniz and Spinoza. I go through the use and definition of the concept of individual in four stages.First I discuss the individual as conceived by Spinoza as a relation formed by a composition of parts and the individual as conceived by Leibniz as a complete notion consisting of all the events in the life of a subject.Next is the roll of perception in Leibniz discussed, likewise individuation through different perception with varying distinctness, and the affinity of perception with affection.The discussions concerning the individual concludes in a section about the essence of the individual as being the desire of the individual. In the last stage, I discuss the multitude as being an own individual..