thanatos
psychology
Also known as: death instinct
Learn about this topic in these articles:
comparison with libido
instinct
- In instinct: Freud’s Trieb
…Eros, the life instinct, and Thanatos, the death instinct (a desire to return to an inorganic state). Because Eros opposes the taking of one’s own life, which Thanatos would urge, the destructive energy of the death instinct is turned outward and expressed as aggression toward others—hence the record of carnage,…
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theory of Freud
- In Sigmund Freud: Toward a general theory of Sigmund Freud
…it the death instinct, or Thanatos, which he could substitute for self-preservation as the contrary of the life instinct, or Eros.
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