Talk:Pleasure principle
pleasure principle (principe de plaisir) Even when Lacan uses the
word 'pleasure' on its own, he is always referring to the pleasure principle, and
never to a sensation.
The pleasure principle is one of the 'two principles of mental functioning'
posited by Freud in his metapsychological writings (the other being the Reality Principle). The pleasure principle aims exclusively at avoiding unpleasure and
obtaining pleasure.
Lacan's first extended discussion of the pleasure principle appears in the
seminar of 1954-5. Here Lacan compares the pleasure principle to a homeo-
static device that aims at maintaining excitation at the lowest functional level
(S2, 79-80). This accords with Freud's thesis that unpleasure is related to the
increase of quantities of excitation, and pleasure to their reduction. Lacan
opposes the pleasure principle, which he dubs the 'restitutive tendency', to
the death drive (the 'repetitive tendency'), in accordance with Freud's view
that the death drive is 'beyond the pleasure principle' (S2, 79-80).
In 1960, Lacan develops what soon comes to be an important concept in his
work; the idea of an opposition between pleasure and Jouissance. ,ÕOMiSS¸flCÄ iS
now defined as an excessive quantity of excitation which the pleasure principle
attempts to prevent. The pleasure principle is thus seen as a Symbolic law, a
commandment which can be phrased 'Enjoy as little as possible' (which is
why Freud originally called it the unpleasure principle; see Freud, 1900a: SE
V, 574). Pleasure is the safeguard of a state of homeostasis and constancy
which jouissance constantly threatens to disrupt and traumatise.
The function of the pleasure principle is, in effect, to lead the subject from
signifier to signifier, by generating as many signifiers as are required to
maintain at as low a level as possible the tension that regulates the whole
functioning of the psychic apparatus.
(S7, 119)
Put another way, the pleasure principle is the prohibition of incest, 'that whiÁh
regulates the distance between the subject and das Ding' 69; see nugä
When the subject transgresses this prohibition, gets too near to ife Thing, then
he suffers. Since it is the drives which permit the subject to transgress the
pleasure principle, it follows that every drive is a Death Drive.
Since the pleasure principle is related to prohibition, to the law, and to regulation, it is clearly on the side of the Symbolic, whereas jouissance is on the side of the Real. The pleasure principle is thus 'nothing else than the dominance of the signifier' (S7, 134). This involves Lacan in a paradox, since the Symbolic is also the Realm of the REPETITION compulsion, which is, in Freud's terms, precisely that which goes beyond the pleasure principle. Indeed, some of Lacan's descriptions of the pleasure principle make it sound almost identical to the repetition compulsion: 'The function of the pleasure principle is to make man always search or what he has to find again, but which he will never attain' (S7, 68).
Contents
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Freud
The ‘pleasure principl’e is one of the “two principles of mental functioning” posited by Freud in his metapsychological writings (the other being the Reality Principle). The ‘pleasure principle’ aims exclusively at avoiding unpleasure and obtaining pleasure.
Respectively, the desire for immediate gratification vs. the deferral of that gratification. The pleasure-principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. However, as one grows up, one begins to learn the need sometimes to endure pain and to defer gratification because of the exigencies and obstacles of reality: "An ego thus educated has become 'reasonable'; it no longer lets itself be governed by the pleasure principle, but obeys the reality principle, which also at bottom seeks to obtain pleasure, but pleasure which is assured through taking account of reality, even though it is pleasure postponed and diminished" (Introductory Lectures 16.357).
Lacan
Lacan’s first extended discussion of the pleasure principle appears in the seminar of 1954-5. Here Lacan compares the pleasure principle to a homeostatic device that aims at maintains excitation at the lowest functional level. Lacan opposes the pleasure principle to the death drive, in accorrdance with Freud’s view that the death drive is beyond the pleasure principle.[1]
In 1960 Lacan develops what soon comes to be an important concept in his work; the idea of an opposition between pleasure and ‘’jouissance’’. ‘’Jouissance’’ is now defined as an excessive quantityt of excitation which the pleasure principle attempts to prevent. The pleasure principle is thus seen as a symbolic law, a commandment which can be phrased ‘Enjoy as little as possible.’ Pleasure is the safeguard of a state of homeostatis and constancy which ‘’jouissance’’ constantly threatens to disrupt and traumatize.
The pleasure principle is the prohibition of incest, ‘that which regulates the distance between the subject and das Ding.”[2] When the subject transgresses this prohibition, gets too near to the Thing, then he suffers. Since it is the drives which permit the subject to transgress the pleasure principle, it follows that every drive is a death drive.
Since the pleasure principle is related to prohibition, to the law, and to regulation, it is clearly on the side of the symbolic, whereas ‘’jouissance’’ is on the side of the real. The pleasure principle is thus “nothing else than the dominance of the signifer.”[3]
References
Respectively, the desire for immediate gratification vs. the deferral of that gratification. Quite simply, the pleasure-principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. However, as one grows up, one begins to learn the need sometimes to endure pain and to defer gratification because of the exigencies and obstacles of reality: "An ego thus educated has become 'reasonable'; it no longer lets itself be governed by the pleasure principle, but obeys the reality principle, which also at bottom seeks to obtain pleasure, but pleasure which is assured through taking account of reality, even though it is pleasure postponed and diminished" (Introductory Lectures 16.357).
def
Lacan opposes the ‘pleasure principle’ (principe de plaisir) to the death drive, in accordance with Freud’s view that the death drive is ‘beyond the pleasure principle.’ Jouissance is defined as an excessive quantity of excitation which the pleasure principle attempts to prevent. The pleasure principle is thus seen as a symbolic law, a commandment which can be phrased ‘Enjoy as little as possible.’ Pleasure is the safeguard of a state of homeostasis and constancy which jouissance constantly threatens to disrupt and traumatize.
Also, the pleasure principle refers to the prohibition of incest, “that which regulates the distance between the subect and das Ding.” When the subject transgresses this prohibition, gets too near to the Thing, then he suffers. Since it is the drives which permit the subject to transgress the pleasure principle, it follows that every drive is a death drive. Since the pleasure principle is related to prohibition, to the law, and to regulation, it is clearly on the side of the symbolic, whereas jouissance is on the side of the real.
