Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of ThoughtJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Philosophy
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Libido (Psychology); Mother and child; Psychoanalysis; Subconsciousness; Symbolism (Psychology)
The chief source of the history of the analytic conception of libido is
Freud’s “Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory.” There the term
libido is conceived by him in the original narrow sense of sexual
impulse, sexual need. Experience forces us to the assumption of a
capacity for displacement of the libido, because functions or
localizations of non-sexual force are undoubtedly capable of taking up a
certain amount of libidinous sexual impetus, a libidinous afflux.[238]
Functions or objects could, therefore, obtain sexual value, which under
normal circumstances really have nothing to do with sexuality.[239] From
this fact results the Freudian comparison of the libido with a stream,
which is divisible, which can be dammed up, which overflows into
branches, and so on.[240] Freud’s original conception does not interpret
“everything sexual,” although this has been asserted by critics, but
recognizes the existence of certain forces, the nature of which are not
well known; to which Freud, however, compelled by the notorious facts
which are evident to any layman, grants the capacity to receive
“affluxes of libido.” The hypothetical idea at the basis is the symbol
of the “Triebbündel”[241] (bundle of impulses), wherein the sexual
impulse figures as a partial impulse of the whole system, and its
encroachment into the other realms of impulse is a fact of experience.
The theory of Freud, branching off from this interpretation, according
to which the motor forces of a neurotic system correspond precisely to
their libidinous additions to other (non-sexual) functional impulses,
has been sufficiently proven as correct, it seems to me, by the work of
Freud and his school.[242] Since the appearance of the “Three
Contributions,” in 1905, a change has taken place[243] in the libido
conception; its field of application has been widened. An extremely
clear example of this amplification is this present work. However, I
must state that Freud, as well as myself, saw the need of widening the
conception of libido. It was paranoia, so closely related to dementia
præcox, which seemed to compel Freud to enlarge the earlier limits of
the conception. The passage in question, which I will quote here, word
for word, reads:[244]
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