Key Arguments

• Freud maintains that “in each bit of living substance, both kinds of instincts would be active, but in an uneven mix,” and although “in what ways the instincts of both types connect with each other, mixing, alloying, would be completely inconceivable,” he insists “that it happens regularly and on a large scale is an inescapable assumption in our context.”
• Through the evolution from unicellular to multicellular organisms, the combination “would be successful in neutralizing the death instinct of the single cell and in diverting the destructive impulses on the outside world through the intercession of a particular organ. This organ would be the musculature and the death instinct would then manifest—probably only partially—as a destructive instinct against the outside world and other living beings.”
• He introduces “the possibility of a—more or less complete—defusion of the same” once a fusion of instinct types is accepted.
• Sadism provides the “classic example of an appropriate fusion of instincts before us—in a sadism turned independent as a perversion—the prototype of one, but not borne to the utmost separation,” suggesting that even apparently pure sadism is not complete defusion.
• Freud claims that this perspective “offers us an insight into a large domain of facts not yet been considered in this light,” naming as examples that “the destructive instinct is routinely put into Eros’ service for purposes of discharge,” that “the epileptic seizure is a product and indication of instinctual defusion,” and that “amongst the results of some severe neuroses, e.g., the obsessional neuroses, the instinctual defusion, and the emergence of the death instinct deserve especial acknowledgment.”
• He generalizes that “the essence of a libido regression, e.g., such as from the genital to the sadistic-anal phase, is based on an instinct defusion,” whereas “a progression from the earlier to the definitive genital phase is an attainment of the erotic component of the conditions,” and he suggests that certain forms of “regular ambivalence” may be “considered as an unfulfilled instinctual fusion.”

Source Quotes

The question about the origin of life remains cosmological, so the point and purpose of life would be answered dualistically. 93 Each of these two instinct types would be allocated a particular physiological process (anabolism and catabolism); in each bit of living substance, both kinds of instincts would be active, but in an uneven mix, so that one substance could assume the main representation of Eros. In what ways the instincts of both types connect with each other, mixing, alloying, 94 would be completely inconceivable; but that it happens regularly and on a large scale is an inescapable assumption in our context.

93 Each of these two instinct types would be allocated a particular physiological process (anabolism and catabolism); in each bit of living substance, both kinds of instincts would be active, but in an uneven mix, so that one substance could assume the main representation of Eros. In what ways the instincts of both types connect with each other, mixing, alloying, 94 would be completely inconceivable; but that it happens regularly and on a large scale is an inescapable assumption in our context. As a result of the combination of unicellular basic organisms into multicellular life forms, it would be successful in neutralizing the death instinct of the single cell and in diverting the destructive impulses on the outside world through the intercession of a particular organ.

In what ways the instincts of both types connect with each other, mixing, alloying, 94 would be completely inconceivable; but that it happens regularly and on a large scale is an inescapable assumption in our context. As a result of the combination of unicellular basic organisms into multicellular life forms, it would be successful in neutralizing the death instinct of the single cell and in diverting the destructive impulses on the outside world through the intercession of a particular organ. This organ would be the musculature and the death instinct would then manifest—probably only partially—as a destructive instinct 95 against the outside world and other living beings.

This organ would be the musculature and the death instinct would then manifest—probably only partially—as a destructive instinct 95 against the outside world and other living beings. Once we have accepted the idea of a fusion of the instinct types, so also the possibility of a—more or less complete—defusion of the same suggests itself. In the sadistic component of the sexual life, 96 we have a classic example of an appropriate fusion of instincts before us—in a sadism turned independent as a perversion—the prototype of one, but not borne to the utmost separation.

Once we have accepted the idea of a fusion of the instinct types, so also the possibility of a—more or less complete—defusion of the same suggests itself. In the sadistic component of the sexual life, 96 we have a classic example of an appropriate fusion of instincts before us—in a sadism turned independent as a perversion—the prototype of one, but not borne to the utmost separation. It offers us an insight into a large domain of facts not yet been considered in this light.

It offers us an insight into a large domain of facts not yet been considered in this light. We recognize that the destructive instinct is routinely put into Eros’ service for purposes of discharge, we sense that the epileptic seizure 97 is a product and indication of instinctual defusion and learn to understand that amongst the results of some severe neuroses, e.g., the obsessional neuroses, the instinctual defusion, and the emergence of the death instinct deserve especial acknowledgment. In a quick generalization, we might suspect that the essence of a libido regression, e.g., such as from the genital to the sadistic-anal phase, is based on an instinct defusion, akin to, conversely, a progression from the earlier to the definitive genital phase is an attainment of the erotic component of the conditions.

We recognize that the destructive instinct is routinely put into Eros’ service for purposes of discharge, we sense that the epileptic seizure 97 is a product and indication of instinctual defusion and learn to understand that amongst the results of some severe neuroses, e.g., the obsessional neuroses, the instinctual defusion, and the emergence of the death instinct deserve especial acknowledgment. In a quick generalization, we might suspect that the essence of a libido regression, e.g., such as from the genital to the sadistic-anal phase, is based on an instinct defusion, akin to, conversely, a progression from the earlier to the definitive genital phase is an attainment of the erotic component of the conditions. It also raises the question whether regular ambivalence, which so often in the constitutional structure of neurosis we find reinforced, may be comprehended as the result of a defusion; but this one is so primary rather, it must be considered as an unfulfilled instinctual fusion.

In a quick generalization, we might suspect that the essence of a libido regression, e.g., such as from the genital to the sadistic-anal phase, is based on an instinct defusion, akin to, conversely, a progression from the earlier to the definitive genital phase is an attainment of the erotic component of the conditions. It also raises the question whether regular ambivalence, which so often in the constitutional structure of neurosis we find reinforced, may be comprehended as the result of a defusion; but this one is so primary rather, it must be considered as an unfulfilled instinctual fusion. Our interest will of course turn to the questions of whether insightful relationships between the presumed structures of the Ego, Superego, and the Id on one hand can be found, on the other hand, whether we can ascribe to the psychic processes governing the Pleasure Principle a fixed position for both instinct types and the mental differentiation.

Key Concepts

• in each bit of living substance, both kinds of instincts would be active, but in an uneven mix, so that one substance could assume the main representation of Eros.
• In what ways the instincts of both types connect with each other, mixing, alloying, 94 would be completely inconceivable; but that it happens regularly and on a large scale is an inescapable assumption in our context.
• As a result of the combination of unicellular basic organisms into multicellular life forms, it would be successful in neutralizing the death instinct of the single cell and in diverting the destructive impulses on the outside world through the intercession of a particular organ.
• Once we have accepted the idea of a fusion of the instinct types, so also the possibility of a—more or less complete—defusion of the same suggests itself.
• In the sadistic component of the sexual life, 96 we have a classic example of an appropriate fusion of instincts before us—in a sadism turned independent as a perversion—the prototype of one, but not borne to the utmost separation.
• We recognize that the destructive instinct is routinely put into Eros’ service for purposes of discharge, we sense that the epileptic seizure 97 is a product and indication of instinctual defusion and learn to understand that amongst the results of some severe neuroses, e.g., the obsessional neuroses, the instinctual defusion, and the emergence of the death instinct deserve especial acknowledgment.
• we might suspect that the essence of a libido regression, e.g., such as from the genital to the sadistic-anal phase, is based on an instinct defusion, akin to, conversely, a progression from the earlier to the definitive genital phase is an attainment of the erotic component of the conditions.
• it must be considered as an unfulfilled instinctual fusion.

Context

First half of Chapter IV, as Freud uses his dual-instinct theory to reinterpret sadism, neuroses, regression and ambivalence in terms of fusion and defusion of Eros and the death instinct.