På drift med Spinoza och Freud
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. Conatus is every thing?s strive to persevere in its being and is the expression of God?s, or the only substance?s, force and action in a here and a now. In the Freudian theory the term trieb, drive, is defined by it?s variation regarding object, source and aim. The late Freudian theory of drives separates the life drive, also called Eros, from the death drive. Eros is the strive of every being to maintain life but also to procreate and create stronger unities of life. It is, as the strive of conatus, a persevering strive. However, in examining the strive of conatus to persevere in its being, which could be said to strive by the guidance of a principle of joy, the distinction between the concept of conatus and the Freudian Eros is made visible through the comparison to the Freudian pleasure principle.