The drive in Freud, a concept surpassed?

Abstract

The present article makes a critical analysis, intra and extratextual, of the concept of drive in the Freudian psychoanalytic theory; first, it highlights the main characteristics of the drive: the source, the effort (work measurement), the goal and the object; second, it analyzes whether the drive in a concept referred to a biological or a psychic reality; third, it studies its relations with repression; fourth, asks if it is preferable to talk about tendencies (Logos, Eros, Thánatos and Ananke) and of drives as aspects of psychic life subjected to these four tendencies; and fifth, it analyzes its close relations with biology. In this journey, we examine and point out some contradictions that arise when comparing two moments in their conceptualization: first, under the opposition between sexual and self-preservation drives, and second, under the perspective of the life and death drives. It concludes by pointing out the need for a dialogue with current biology, as well as with research on emotions in contemporary psychology.