Irvine Paper

7/26/2019 Irvine Paper

1/46

Kurt Newman Irvine Paper

Labor-management politics in the 1950s often seen as dull bureaucratic stor! of

"New #en of Power$% &he reason is' we don(t )now how to loo) at desire and "death

drive$% *istorians of capitalism in general do not )now how to tal) about desire$ +$g$

,illiam Leach$ o the 1950s intellectual histor! of labor and capitalism might tell us

something interesting$

chumpeter' "+conomic activit! ma! have an! motive even a spiritual one but

its meaning is alwa!s the satisfaction of wants% .1911/ wants and satisfaction

Professor Lionel obbinseconomics as "stud! of the causes of material

welfare%"+conomics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship

between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses% 2uoted in wee3! &heor!

of 4apitalist evelopment 6$ wee3! notes' "&his does not loo) ver! much li)e the

definition of a science of social relations$ It purports to be rather a definition of a science

of human behavior in general% but in fact "economic theori3ing is primaril! a process of

constructing and interrelating concepts from which all specificall! social content has

been drained off% .6-5/

Let(s begin with three te7ts published in the !ears 1958 195 and 195:

respectivel!' ;llen


2/46

ban)s=

Li)e topia >nlimited in the ?at ?ifties$% .1@/ wados tells us that while

+isenhower-era bourgeois ;merica harbored the impression that "the problems of the

wor)ersA have been stabili3ed if not permanentl! solved% the > in the 1950s

remained substantiall! proletarian$ &he nature of wor)ing-class wor) however grew

continuall! more immiserating' thus "the wor)er(s attitude toward his wor) is generall!

compounded of hatred shame and resignation$%1eflecting upon his e7perience in

factories in 1958 wados wrote' "If .wor)ers(/ e7pectations have changed at all in recent

!ears the! would seem to have narrowed rather than e7panded leaving a ps!chological

increment of resignation rather than of unbounded optimism$% .1@/ "It is not simpl!

status hunger that ma)es a man hate wor) that is mindless stupef!ing sweat! filth!

nois! e7hausting insecure in its prospects and practicall! without hope of advancement$%

.1B-6/ ";lmost without e7ception the men with whom I wor)ed on the assembl! line

last !ear felt li)e trapped animals$ epending on their age and circumstances the! were

either resigned to their fate furiousl! angr! at themselves for what the! were doing or

desperatel! hunting other wor) that would pa! as well and in addition offer some variet!

some prospect of change and betterment$ &he! were sic) of being pushed around b!

harried foremenA sic) of wor)ing li)e blin)ered don)e!s sic) of being dependent for

their livelihood on a maniacal production-merchandising setup sic) of wor)ing in a place

where there was no spot to rela7 during the twelve-minute rest periodA$ Cut since the

assembl! line demands !oung bloodA the factor! in which I wor)ed was aswarm with

1*arve! wados "&he #!th of the *app! ,or)er% in Leon Litwac) ed$ The American Labor Movement

.+nglewood 4liffs ND' Prentice-*all 198@/ 11-@$


3/46

new faces ever! da!E labor turnover and absenteeism to rampantA that the compan! was

forced to overhire in order to have sufficient wor)ers on hand at the starting siren$%

abotageFbananas stuc) in tailpipes nuts and bolts thrown in tail fins raw aggression$

ooner or later if we want a decent societ!A we are going to have to come face to face

with the problem of wor)$ .A/

If this is what we want let(s be honest enough to sa! so$ If we conclude that thereis nothing noble about repetitive wor) but that it is good enough for the lower

orders let(s sa! that tooA$ Cut if we cling to the belief that other men are our

brothersA including millions of ;mericans who grind their lives awa! on aninsane treadmill then we will have to start thin)ing about how their wor) and

their lives can be made meaningfulA .18/$

?inall! Leonard +$ eed(s "I Pencil%' the "comple7 combination of miracles%

which manifest themselves in Nature to which is added "an even more e7traordinar!

miracle%' the "configuration of creative human energiesmillions of tin! )now-hows

configurating naturall! and spontaneousl! in response to human necessit! and desire and

in the absence of an! human master-minding=%

"&he lesson I have to teach is this'Leave all creative energies uninhibited.#erel!

organi3e societ! to act in harmon! with this lesson$ Let societ!Gs legal apparatus remove

all obstacles the best it can$ Permit these creative )now-hows freel! to flow%

.see how "death drive% subtends also libertarian visions of capitalism in the 1950s/

,ho is this #oloch "whose soul is electricit! and ban)s% identified b!


4/46

demands pa!ment in the form of children$ *e also bears a famil! resemblance it seems

to the (s role in international capitalism following the demise of Cretton

,oods$

; good guess is that


5/46

paranoid fantas! vis&'&viscapitalism(s endemic drive towards repetition routine and

redundanc!$ &he phenomenon that avid iesman called in a collection of essa!s

published in 198@'Abundance #or (hat)&he near future that Jance Pac)ard in The

(aste Makers moc)ed as the d!sfunctional "4ornucopia 4it!$% #! argument here is that

nited tates in

the 19B0s/ desire has becomes a problem' neurotics orient themselves around

"demands% perceived or stated real or imagined$ ,hat ?reud argues above all in

3&here is some literature suggesting that "death drive% is a particularl! pronounced feature of the newer

finance-driven capitalismE one of the in2uiries pursued in this paper is whether there is not a much longer

histor! of "death drive% and capitalism$ 4ite i3e) and ean here$


6/46

*e+ond the leasure rinci%le is that the desire be!ond the pleasure and realit!

principles seems to be susceptible to a slide into a compulsion to repeat a loc)ed groove$

Instead of desire(s linear narrative "death drive% ta)es the form of an endless loop$ &his

strange character of desire and drive is something that philosophers have long

contemplated$ It is not that ?reud is tal)ing about something new and it is certainl! not

the case that ?reud formulated in an! coherent and s!stematic wa! .however valiantl!

some tr! to ma)e it into a wor)ing structural model of ps!chic life/' the primar!

conceptual innovation lies in the "be!ond% of the title$ ,hat we need to thin) withwhat

we need to tr! not to get "be!ond% or transcendis the title(s )e! term "be!ond% the

pleasure principle$ It is enough to sa! there is a "be!ond% to get the ball rolling$

?reud borrows from oren Kier)egaard the image of "repetition unto death% .this

is where the "death% to the "death drive% comes in and not from an! suicidal impulse

suicide is in man! wa!s the ver! opposite of the "death drive%/ and he suggests that

unli)e desire which alwa!s ta)es the form of a thirst ultimatel! disappointed b! its

temporar! 2uenching "death drive% is the realm in which the "aim% reaches its

"satisfaction$% Li)e the gambler at the one-armed bandit with a buc)et of change or the

hardcore drug addict this "satisfaction% comes at the cost of a certain suspension of time

and removal from the world$ &his is the m!sterious "4olumn 4% of the "death drive%' so

long as we add it to the chart and mar) the empt! spaces with an "7% we can proceed

productivel! without lingering too long in the wilds of ?reudian theor!$

eturning to


7/46

wor)er and the margin of humanit! being crushedOanimali3ed/ and the entropic .eed(s

pencil and the dangers of planning/$

If it is obMected that #oloch does not seem to belong on this chart of the hedonic

calculus#oloch is after all a harbinger of pain and suffering of sadism and

brutalit!FFwe should return to


8/46

;long with continuing battles over featherbedding and labor rac)eteering haunted b!

earlier discourses of "soldiering% and "malingering% and in view of the imminent specter

of automation the 1950s witnessed intense focus on the palpable pointlessnessfrom the

perspective of the wor)erof industrial labor and the apparent futilit! of attempts to

induce greater levels of productivit!$ +ver!one seemed to )now that productivit! was on

the decline but no one seemed capable of measuring output .or even defining it

coherentl!/$ ther countries li)e $ &hen again the data for that

comparison was s)etch! at best$ .?rance and Latin ;merica of course were consistentl!

hounded as bastions of idleness and "featherbedding%/$

4onventional wisdom too) the form of nervous councils of despair as in liberal

epublican economist ;le7ander *eron(s (h+ Men (ork.196/$ .,e should recall that

the ver! e7istence of a boo) entitled (h+ Men (ork is in and of itself historicall!

interesting$ ?or the vast run of human histor! such a 2uestion could never be formulated

let alone as)ed/$ Qee for e7ample ;ndre


9/46

beneficiariesA% .1B/

tanford economist Dohn P$ &ro7ell(s foreword to (h+ Men (orkpresents the

problem' "financial rewards and penalties% had ceased to be "wholl! e2ual to the

important tas) that we entrust to themFinducing men to wor)$% ?or "most of the gainfull!

emplo!ed% &ro7ell noted "there is no clear promise of a pri3e for sustained effort and

no great li)elihood of penalt! for withholding itnot in time of full emplo!ment% .v/$

"&rue% he observed "we would rather wor) than loaf and we enMo! productive wor)E

bootless effort or made wor)( of an! t!pe is despised$% *owever "a general distaste for

loafing is a ver! different thing from that 3eal for hard wor) which is essential to full

production% .v-vi/$ In fact intellectuals in the ensuing !ears would 2uestion whether this

was correct$ onald o! and the scholars he inspired' ,illiam ?$ ,h!te and ;lvin


10/46

pleasure principle as in imon Patten(s "pleasure econom!% or ,arren usman(s hidden

histor! of "comfort%not in leisure hours but on the -ob itsel#$ ,hat would be be!ond

this "pleasure principle% is "death drive%that is what o!


11/46

Pac)ard(s d!stopian fantas! of 4ornucopia 4it!' "ne fourth of the factories of

4ornucopia 4it! will be located on the edge of a cliff and the ends of their assembl!

lines can be swung to the front or rear doors depending upon the public demand for the

product being produced$ ,hen demand is slac) the end of the assembl! line will be

swung to the rear door and the output of refrigerators or other products will drop out of

sight and go directl! to their grave!ard without first overwhelming the consumer mar)et%

.6/

&he laborers in 4orncucopia 4it!' &he


12/46

*oward Cric) on Cell(s circle' "end of ideolog!% circle of ;merican thought

aniel Cell e!mour #artin Lipset Nathan


13/46

&he idea of an end of ideolog!( germinated in the !ears after ,orld ,ar II and its

histor! from the mid-1960s to the mid-1950s comprised man! of the diverse elements

that figured in the tortuous political developments of those !ears$ #ost clearl! stated at

an earl! point b! ;lbert 4amus in 1968 a wished-for end of ideolog!( connoted a

dismissal of totalitarian doctrines and enthusiasm besmirched b! the blood of millions in

hopes of reinvigorating in their place a genuine radical humanism$ Later at the founding

meeting of the 4ongress for 4ultural ?reedom in 1950 the anti-communist ;rthur

Koestler evo)ed an end-of-ideolog! notion when he declared that the need for political

unit! against the oviet totalitarian enem! meant the words socialism( and capitalism(

Left( and ight( have toda! become virtuall! empt! of meaningA .some li)e *$ tuart

*ughes and the ?ran)furt chool intellectuals turned to "end of ideolog!% in a much

more d!stopian )e!an order in which all significant social conflict was suppressed in

favor of a bureaucraticall! controlled or administered societ!/$ evelations of 4I;

funding for the 44? have made scholars thin) of the group as essentiall! para-stateE but

there was Cric) argues a genuinel! new intellectual proMect at its coreagainst

nationali3ed industr! and *a!e)(s indemnification of planning$ a!mond ;ron' "mar)et%

and "plan% were nothing but "ideal t!pes% .18B/

44? were fundamentall! "mi7ed econom!% thin)ersE as #L put it' "&he ideological

issues dividing left and right had been reduced to a little more or a little less government

ownership and economic planning%

"&he writer who came to be most identified with the phrase .the end of ideolog!/ still

showed signs of residual anticapitalist animus through the 1950s$% .186/


14/46

Do!ce ;ppleb! for e7ample'

&hat world-reshaping force came when a group of natural philosophers gained an

understanding of ph!sical laws$ ,ith this )nowledge inventors with a more practical

bent found stunning wa!s to generate energ! from natural forces$ Production too) a

2uantum leap forward$ 4apitalism a s!stem based on individual investments in the

production of mar)etable goods slowl! replaced the traditional wa!s of meeting the

material needs of a societ!$ ?rom earl! industriali3ation to the present global econom! a

se2uence of revolutions relentlessl! changed the habits and habitats of human beings$ &he

pu33le is wh! it too) so long for these developments to materiali3e$;ppleb! Do!ce

.@009-1@-@@/$ &he elentless evolution' ; *istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle Locations 9-

:6/$ ,$ ,$ Norton R 4ompan!$ Kindle +dition$

4apitalism of course didn(t start out as an "ism$% In the beginning it wasn(t a s!stem a

word or a concept but rather some scattered wa!s of doing things differentl! that proved

so successful that the! ac2uired legs$ Li)e all novelties these practices entered a world

unprepared for e7perimentation a world suspicious of deviations from e7isting norms$

;uthorities opposed them because the! violated the law$ rdinar! people were offended

b! actions that ran athwart accepted notions of proper behavior$ &he innovators

themselves initiall! had neither the influence nor the power to combat these responses$ o

the riddle of capitalism(s ascendanc! isn(t Must economic but political and moral as well'


15/46

*ow did entrepreneurs get out of the straitMac)et of custom and ac2uire the force and

respect that enabled them to transform rather than conform to the dictates of their

societ!H #an! elements some fortuitous had to be in pla! before innovation could

trump habit$ etermined and disciplined pathbrea)ers had to persist with their

innovations until the! too) hold well enough to resist the siren call to return to the

habitual order of things$ It(s not e7actl! a case of how small differences can have large

impacts through a chain of connections$ &he better simile would be brea)ing a hole in a

di)e that could not be plastered up again after letting out a flood of pent-up energ!$ Cut

brea)ing that hole re2uired;ppleb! Do!ce .@009-1@-@@/$ &he elentless evolution' ;

*istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle Locations 1B-16/$ ,$ ,$ Norton R 4ompan!$ Kindle

+dition$

curiosit! luc) determination and the courage to go against the grain and withstand the

powerful pressures to conform$ Dust as the capitalist s!stem has global reach toda! so its

beginnings if not its causes can be traced to the Moining of the two halves of the globe$

+urope ;frica and ;sia had been cut off from the ;mericas until the closing !ears of the

fifteenth centur!$ +ven contact between +urope and ;sia was confined to a few overland

trade routes used to transport lightweight commodities li)e pepper and cinnamon$ &hen

+uropean curiosit! about the rest of the world infected a few audacious souls among

them Prince *enr! the Navigator$;ppleb! Do!ce .@009-1@-@@/$ &he elentless

evolution' ; *istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle Locations 16-15@/$ ,$ ,$ Norton R

4ompan!$ Kindle +dition$

In view of this spectacular activit! across the globe it ma! seem a bit perverse for me to

pinpoint the beginnings of capitalism in one small island )ingdom in the North ;tlantic$


16/46

et onl! in +ngland did these dramatic novelties produce;ppleb! Do!ce .@009-1@-@@/$

&he elentless evolution' ; *istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle Locations 198-19/$ ,$ ,$

Norton R 4ompan!$ Kindle +dition$

the social and intellectual brea)throughs that made possible the emergence of an entirel!

new s!stem for producing goods$ ; series of changes starting in farming and ending in

industr! mar)s the point at which commerce long e7isting in the interstices of traditional

societ! bro)e free to impose its d!namic upon the laws class structure individual

behavior and esteemed values of the people$ ;lthough thousands of boo)s have been

written about this astounding phenomenon it still remains something of a m!ster!$

Jisiting the Jatican #useum several !ears ago I was struc) b! the richness of life

captured in fourteenth-and fifteenth-centur! paintings there$ &he! were full of plants

furniture decorations and clothing= I couldn(t help but contrast these lavish depictions of

ever!da! life with plain feaures of +ngland$ *ow counterintuitive that this poor cold

small outlandish countr! would be the site of technological innovations that would

relentlessl! revolutioni3e the material world=;ppleb! Do!ce .@009-1@-@@/$ &he

elentless evolution' ; *istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle Locations 19-@06/$ ,$ ,$


mith placed economic development in a long se2uence of progressive steps that had

evolved over time$ &his interpretation of the histor! of capitalism as moving forward

effortlessl! has produced the greatest iron! in the histor! of capitalism an e7planation of

its origins that ma)es natural what was reall! an astounding brea) with precedent$ &his

view also depends upon people alread! thin)ing within the capitalist frame of reference$

;ccording to mith capitalism emerged naturall! from the universal tendenc! of men


17/46

and women to "truc) and barter$% In fact it too) economic development itself to foster

this particular cultural trait$ mith turned an effect into a cause$ ?or mith and his

philosophical colleagues economic change had slowl! steadil! led to the accumulation

of capital that could then pa! for improvements li)e the division of labor that enhanced

productivit!$ No cultural adMustment had been considered necessar! because underneath

all the diversit! in dress diet and comportment beat the heart of economic man and

presumabl! economic woman$ Cecause the full elaboration of economic developments in

+ngland too) place over two centuries almost seven generations of lived e7perience

it was possible to imagine it as the evolutionar! process that mith described$;ppleb!

Do!ce .@009-1@-@@/$ &he elentless evolution' ; *istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle

Locations @:1-@90/$ ,$ ,$ Norton R 4ompan!$ Kindle +dition$

but the distinctive characteristic of capitalism has been its ama3ing wealth-generating

capacities$ &he power of that wealth transformed traditional societies and continues to

enable human societies to do remar)able things$;ppleb! Do!ce .@009-1@-@@/$ &he

elentless evolution' ; *istor! of 4apitalism .Kindle Locations 61-61:/$ ,$ ,$


Cetter is the account provided b! #ichael a)im and


18/46

credit and the state(s responsibilit! in regulating that access over the place of moral

constraint in a s!stem based on ma7imi3ation and ris) and over the proper relationship

between public welfare and private interest and between wages and wor)$ &he histor! of

capitalism is not then Must an account of transaction costs economies of scale and

diminishing returns but of social habits cultural logics and the .@011-1@-@1/$

4apitalism &a)es 4ommand' &he ocial &ransformation of Nineteenth-4entur! ;merica

.Kindle Locations 91-9/$ >niversit! of 4hicago Press$ Kindle +dition$

conditions of s!stem-building as well$ ;ll were now harnessed to the engines of

change which contemporaries increasingl! referred to as "progress% and which

economists would eventuall! call ironicall! using an agrarian metaphor "growth$% Cut

nature had been decisivel! subMugated b! an integrated circuit of "steam-navigation

railwa!s electric telegraphs clearing of whole continents for cultivation canali3ation of

rivers SandT whole populations conMured out of the ground% that far e7ceeded an!thing

"all preceding generations together% had ever e7perienced as the 4ommunist #anifesto

breathlessl! pronounced in a surve! of the great transformation in 1:6:$ ;mericans were

e2uall! impressed and concerned with the unprecedented scope and scale of industrial

change$ ; "cra3ing unobservant lightning-li)e speed% had ta)en control of their lives a

New or) memoirist noted in 1:6B$ "


19/46

although few have said .@011-1@-@1/$ 4apitalism &a)es 4ommand' &he ocial

&ransformation of Nineteenth-4entur! ;merica .Kindle Locations 9-108/$ >niversit! of

4hicago Press$ Kindle +dition$

&here was no contradiction here between the two characteri3ations$ ather the

s!stem could not wor) without such constant threats of collapse$ ;n! tal) of perfect

competition or e2uilibrium was no more than that and a misleading rhetoric at best$ In

practice the s!stem would stagnate if it did not continuall! e7pand innovate e7ploit

"as!mmetries% and restlessl! move capital people information and goods from here to

there and bac) again in search of higher returns$ &he wor)ings of credit were a good

e7ample of this nervous logic$ 4redit allowed humanit! to reshape time and spaceto

level "mountains and valle!s% as it werein accordance to one(s ambitions$ &he promise

to pa! .that is to assume a debt/ thus became the primar! medium of e7change in the

capitalist s!stem$ &his then resulted in a double form of "dissociation% for not onl! was a

currenc! of promises intrinsicall! separate from the things being traded but it was also

increasingl! separated out from an! actual relationship between particular persons$ &his

was because debts themselves were soon being bought and sold in their own networ)s of

e7change which of course generated more credit and thus more e7change$ In such

circumstances the ver! possibilit! of assigning "intrinsic% value to mone! or even to

goodsof the )ind that measured the .@011-1@-@1/$ 4apitalism &a)es 4ommand' &he

ocial &ransformation of Nineteenth-4entur! ;merica .Kindle Locations 1@:-1B8/$

>niversit! of 4hicago Press$ Kindle +dition$

#aterial relations were conse2uentl! removed from the closed parochial conte7t of

communit! famil! and personalit! and transplanted to an obMective economic sphere


20/46

where membership was open to an! and all rational agents$5 &heirs was a historicall!

specific and even historicall! peculiar rationalit!$ It found high e7pression in personal

and bureaucratic calculations of ris) and in the conse2uent utili3ation of contracts

insurance policies securities and ban)ruptc! laws among a growing inventor! of other

mar)et-powered tools to ameliorate those mar)et-generated dangers if not to actuall!

ta)e advantage of them$ Individuals were in a position to either gain or lose but in an!

event the! all became vulnerable to forces be!ond their control and often enough

be!ond their perception$ &he s!stemic instabilit! of this order has conse2uentl! made it

an elusive subMect of in2uir!$ &he orthodo7 division of scholarl! labor for instance while

!ielding plentiful discrete studies of the firm wor)ing-class consciousness technological

change and free-mar)et ideolog! among other pertinent subMects has devoted far less

energ! to e7ploring the multidisciplinar! intercourse b! which capital became an "ism%

and business became a political philosoph!$ .@011-1@-@1/$ 4apitalism &a)es 4ommand'

&he ocial &ransformation of Nineteenth-4entur! ;merica .Kindle Locations 16-158/$

>niversit! of 4hicago Press$ Kindle +dition$

;nd so rather than as) ",ho built ;mericaH%a common 2uer! of social and labor

historians once hoping to peel awa! all the bro)ered la!ers of mediation in search of the

real labor-driven source of wealthwe find ourselves as)ing ",ho sold ;mericaH% or

perhaps more to the point ",ho financed those salesH% &he ensuing paper trail )eeps

leading in circles and c!cles through a thic)ening web of interpersonal opportunism that

dissolved "stabilit! and absoluteness% into "motions and relations% .@011-1@-@1/$

4apitalism &a)es 4ommand' &he ocial &ransformation of Nineteenth-4entur! ;merica

.Kindle Locations B10-B1B/$ >niversit! of 4hicago Press$ Kindle +dition$


21/46

as


22/46

fi7ed 2uantitiesE properl! spea)ing "productivit!% was a historical 2uestion entirel!

dependent upon the comparison of norms in one period to norms in another' ",hat the

past or current rate of productivit! change is depends on the particular period for which

the calculation is made$ If no reference is made to the period and if the period varies

considerabl! from one conte7t to another confusion results$%6

4ompounding this problem was a shortage of reliable statistical information .which

should ma)e us pause and as)' if "productivit!% was so important to capital wh! didn(t

capital )now how to measure "productivit!%H/$ ?abricant(s conclusions are in fact rather

ama3ingl! tentative compared to the confidence with which he introduced the topic '

;s has been said the 2uestions in which productivit! enters are important$ &he! are

also difficult$ ,e all have far to go before an! of us can claim to understand full! the

process of productivit! change its causes or conse2uences or to see clearl! the wa!

to deal with the issues involved$5

";ccording to an increasing number of economists from the mid-1950s on the countr!(s

e7isting statistical framewor) for assessing macroeconomic growtha s!stem

constructed during depression and warwas ill-suited for the nation(s d!namic postwar

4olomon ?abricant "Casic ?acts on Productivit!' ;n Introduction b! olomon ?abricant% in Dohn ,$

Kendric)roductivit+ Trends in the 0nited States .Princeton >niversit! Press for the National Cureau of

+conomic esearch 1981/$ National Cureau of +conomic esearch Number 1


23/46

econom!$ &he problem la! in the countr!(s price inde7es which were used to deflate(

figures on output and e7pendituresA ;s the common argument went because the

inde7es failed to account properl! for changing consumption patterns and for innovation-

including dramatic increases in product 2ualit! and entirel! new )inds of goodsthe!

s!stematicall! overstated consumer inflation and understated the growth of real income$

In turn this statistical miscalculation produced a host of misguided assessments and

polic! proposals$ *ere the concern with measuring growth intersected the constant-

utilit! approach to price inde7es' in the e!es of man! !ounger neoclassical economists a

utilit!-based inde7 could provide a superior anal!sis while also creating a conceptual lin)

between macroeconomic statistics and the neoclassical theories that had come to

dominate ;merican microeconomics after the econd ,orld ,ar$%8

&he )e! to understanding the histor!A after 1980 is recogni3ing a theme we have

encountered throughout this boo)' the desire of man! economists to eliminate subMective

Mudgments from economic measurement especiall! when such Mudgments have

potentiall! normative ramifications$ In part this desire stemmed from general

epistemological goals such as ma)ing economics more scientific( in the supposed mold

of the natural sciences$ Cut more generall! it was a function of the growing ties between

economics and polic!$ If economists wee to claim that their discipline had an! claim to

neutral technical )nowledge surel! that claim re2uired them to have neutral apolitical

factsnamel! economic statistics$ .e$g$ #ilton ?riedman(s 195B distinction between

positive and normative economics a distinction which continues to govern man!

economists( conception of their discipline$ #oreover for government statistics in

6&homas ;$ tapleford The ost o# Living in America A olitical Histor+ o# 1conomic Statistics, 2334&

5444.4ambridge' 4ambridge >niversit! Press @009/ @99$


24/46

particular avoiding subMective potentiall! normative Mudgments appeared essentialE to do

otherwiseA would seem to undermine the rationali3ed foundation of modern political

econom!$

Professional imperatives' for institutional economists this too) methodological form$

4oncepts should be operationall! defined .if !ou can(t measure it don(t use it/E statistics

should isolate particular variables .don(t combine changing prices and 2uantities in a

single inde7/$ .B1:/

Neoclassical economists )ept modified versions of these commitmentsA and added

theoretical components especiall! a commitment toA consumers as utilit! ma7imi3ers$

.B19/

,elfare and National ;ccounts

&he > national accountthe generic name for a statistical s!stem that provides a

coherent and consistent wa! to assess a nation(s economic activit! especiall! its

production$ &hese calculations provided the source for commonl! cited measurements of

economic growth such as national income


25/46

1rinnerung .remembering/

&he subMect in himself recalling his biograph!onl! goes to a certain limit the eal'

and this provides the )e! because the "whole histor! of ?reud(s discover! of repetition as

function becomes clear onl! b! pointing out in this wa! the relation between though and

the eal% .69/

&he h!steric repeats because she does not )now what needed to be remembered

Nothing has been more enigmatic vis-U-vis the bipartition of pleasure principle and

realit! principle than this repetition

,h! did repetition first appear at the level of what is called traumatic neurosisH Is

repetition connected to master! of a traumatic eventH Cut who mastersand what is

there to be masteredH ,e do not )now precisel! where to situate the agenc! that would

underta)e this operation of master!$

In CPP?reud shows that what occurs in dreams of traumatic neurosis appears at

the level of the most primitive functioninga 2uestion of binding energ!$

emembering is graduall! substituted for itself and approaches nearer to a sort of

focus or centerhere we encounter the resistance of the subMect which becomes at that

moment repetition in act$

+ncounter with the realan appointment to which we are alwa!s called with a eal

that eludes us

&he eal is be!ond the return the automaton' b! which we see ourselves governed

b! the pleasure principle

It is 2uite obvious throughout ?reud(s research that the eal is the obMect of hisconcern

&he eal first presented itself in the form of trauma' we are now at the heart ofthe radical character of the conflictual notion introduced b! the opposition of the pleasure

principle and the realit! principle

ubMectif!ing the causeOtrauma' "In effect the trauma is conceived as having necessaril!

been mar)ed b! the subMectif!ing homeostasis that orientates the whole functioning

defined b! the pleasure principle$ur e7perience then presents us with a problem which derives from the fact that at the

ver! heart of the primar! processes we see preserved the insistence of the trauma in

ma)ing us aware of its e7istence$

*ow can the dream the bearer of the subMect(s desire produce that which ma)es the

trauma emerge repeatedl!if not its ver! face at least the screen that shows us that it is

still there behindH

"Let us conclude that the realit! s!stem however far it is developed leaves an essential


26/46

part of what belongs to the real a prisoner in the toils of the pleasure principle%

+ncounters' ouffrancewang

&he primar! processwhich is simpl! what I have tried to define for !ou in m! last fewlectures in the form of the unconsciousmust once again be apprehended in its

e7perience of rupture between perception and consciousness in that non-temporal

locusA another localit! another space another scene the between perception andconsciousness

,e can at an! moment apprehend this primar! process$

"If ?reud ama3ed sees in this the confirmation of his theor! od desire it is certainl! a

sign that the dream is not a phantas! fulfilling a wish%

?or it is not that in the dream he persuades himself that theson is still alive$ Cut the terrible vision of the dead son ta)ing

the father b! the arm designates a be!ond that ma)es itselfheard in the dream$ esire manifests itself in the dream b! the

loss e7pressed in an image at the most cruel point of the obMect$

It is onl! in the dream that this trul! uni2ue encounter canoccur$ nl! a rite an endlessl! repeated act can commemorate

this not ver! memorable encounterfor no one can sa!

what the death of a child is e7cept the father 2ua father that

is to sa! no conscious being$?or the true formula of atheism is not


27/46

and if for lac) of representation it is not there what is

this &riebH ,e ma! have to consider it as being onl! &rieb to

come$*ow can we fall to see that awa)ening wor)s in two clirections

and that the awa)ening that re-situates us in a constituted

and represented realit! carries out two tas)sH &hereal has to be sought be!ond the dreamin what the dream

has enveloped hidden from us behind the lac) of representation

of which there is onl! one representative$ &his is the realthat governs our activities more than an! other and it is ps!choanal!sis

that designates it for us$

?reud is not dealing with an! repetition residing in thenatural no return of need an! more than is Kier)egaard$ &he

return of need is directed towards consumption placed at the

service of appetite$ epetition demands the new$ It is turnedtowards the ludic which finds its dimension in this new?reud also tells us this in the chapter I referred to last time$

,hatever in repetition is varied modulated is merel!

alienation of its meaning$ &he adult and even the more advancedchild demands something new in his activities in his

games$ Cut this Gsliding-awa!G .glissement/ conceals what is the

true secret of the ludic namel! the most radical diversit!constituted b! repetition in itself$ It can be seen in the child

in his first movement at the moment when he is formed as a

human being manifesting himself as an insistence that the

stor! should alwa!s be the same that its recounted reali3ationshould be rituali3ed that is to sa! te7tuall! the same$ &his

re2uirement of a distinct consistenc! in the details of its telling

signifies that the reali3ation of the signifier will never be ableto be careful enough in its memori3ation to succeed in designating

the primac! of the significance as such$ &o develop it b!

var!ing the significations is therefore it would seem to elude

it$ &his variation ma)es one forget the aim of the significance

b! transforming its act into a game and giving it certain outletsthat go some wa! to sads?Ming the pleasure principle$

,hen ?reud grasps the repetition involved in the gamepla!ed b! his grandson in the reiteratedfort-da he ma! indeed

point out that the child ma)es up for the effect of his motherGsdisappearance b! ma)ing himself the agent of itbut this

phenomenon is of secondar! importance$ ,allon stresses that

the child does not immediatel! watch the door through whichhis mother has disappeared thus indicating that he e7pects to

see her return through it but that his vigilance was aroused


28/46

earlier at the ver! point she left him at the point she moved

awa! from him$ &he ever-open gap introduced b! the absence

indicated remains the cause of a centrifugal tracing in whichthat which falls is not the other 2ua face in which the subMect is

proMected but that cotton-reel lin)ed to itself b! the thread that

it holdsin which is e7pressed that which of itself detachesitself in this trial self$mutilation on the basis of which the order

of significance will be put in perspective$ ?or the game of the

cotton-reel is the subMectGs answer to what the motherGs absencehas created on the frontier of his domainthe edge of his

cradlenamel! a ditch around which one can onl! pla! at

GMumping$

&his reel is not the mother reduced to a little ball b! some

magical game worth! of the Divarosit is a small part of the

subMect that detaches itself from him while still remaining his

still retained$ &his is the place to sa! in imitation of ;ristotlethat man thin)s with his obMect$ It is with his obMect that the

child leaps the frontiers of his domain transformed into a welland begins the incantation$ If it is true that the signifier is the

first mar) of the subMect how can we fail to recogni3e here

from the ver! fact that this game is accompanied b! one ofthe first oppositions to appearthat it is in the obMect to which

the opposition is applied in act the reel that we must designate

the subMect$ &o this obMect we will later give the name it bears

in the Lacanian algebrathe petit a$&he activit! as a whole s!mboli3es repetition but not at all

that of some need that might demand the return of the mother

and which would be e7pressed 2uite simpl! in a cr!$ It is the

repetition of the motherGs departure as cause of a paltung in

the subMectovercome b! the alternating game fort-da whichis a here or there and whose aim in its alternation is simpl! that

of being the fort of a da and the da of afort$ It is aimed at what

essentiall! is not there 2ua representedfor it is the game

itself that is the ep rsentan3 of the Jorstellung$ ,hat will becomeof the Jorstellung when once again this eprasentanc of the

motherin her outline made up of the brush-stro)es and

gouaches of desirewill be lac)ingHI too have seen with m! own e!es opened b! maternal

divination the child traumati3ed b! the fact that I was going

awa! despite the appeal precociousl! adumbrated in his voiceand henceforth more renewed for months at a timelong

after having pic)ed up this childI have seen it let his head

fall on m! shoulder and drop off to sleep sleep alone being

capable of giving him access to the living signifier that I had


29/46

become since the date of the trauma$

ou will see that this s)etch that I have given !ou toda! of

the function of the tuche will be essential for us in rectif!ingwhat is the dut! of the anal!st in the interpretation of the

transference$

Let me Must stress toda! that it is not in vain that anal!sisposits itself as modulating in a more radical wa! this relation

of man to the world that has alwa!s been regarded as )nowledge$

If )nowledge is so often in theoretical writings related to

something similar to the relation between ontogenesis and

ph!logenesisit is as the result of a confusion and we shall

show ne7t time that the ver! originalit! of ps!cho-anal!sis liesin the fact that it does not centre ps!chological ontogenesis on

supposed stageswhich have literall! no discoverable foundation

in development observable in biological terms$ If develop$

ment is entirel! animated b! accident b! the obstacle of thetuchI it is in so far as the tuchV brings us bac) to the same point

at which pre-ocratic philosoph! sought to motivate the worlditself$

It re2uired a clinamen an inclination at some point$ ,hen

emocritus tried to designate it presenting himself as alread!the adversar! of a pure function of negativit! in order to

introduce thought into it he sa!s It is not the that is

f the


30/46

)ip to section' &he &ransference and the rive

4h$ 1B &he econstruction of the rive

I can onl! write this introductionA in the wa)e of ?reud in so far as this notion isabsolutel! new in ?reud

&he term Triebcertainl! has a long histor! not onl! in ps!cholog! or in ph!siolog! butin%h+sics and of course it is no accident that ?reud chose this term$

Cut he gave to Trieb so specific a use and Triebis so integrated into anal!tic practice

itself thatits %ast is trul+ concealed$ Dust as the past of the term unconscious weights onthe use of the term in anal!tic theor!so as far as &rieb is concerned ever+one uses it

as a designation o# a sort o# radical given o# our e6%erience. .181/

ometimes people even go so far as to invo)e it against m! doctrine of the unconsciouswhich the! see as some )ind of intellectuali3ationA as if I were ignoring what an!

anal!st )nows from e7perience namel! the domain o# the drive$

,e will meet in e7periencesomething that has an irre%ressible character,even though

re%ressionsindeed if repression there must be it is because there is something be+ond

that is %ressing in.

&here is no need to go further in an adult anal!sisE one has onl! to be a child therapist to

)now theelementthat constitutes the clinical weightof each of the cases we have to dealwith namel! the drive$

There seems to be here, there#ore, a re#erence to some ultimate given, something archaic,%rimal$ uch a recourse which m! teaching invites !ou to renounceif !ou are to

understand the unconscious seems inevitable here$

Now is what we are dealing with in the drive essentiall! organicH

Is it thus that we should interpret what ?reud sa!s in a te7t belonging to*that the

drive re%resents the Ausserung der Tragheit7some mani#estation o# inertia in theorganic li#e)

Is it a simple notion which might completed with reference tosome storing awa+ o# thisinertia namel! to#i6ation,?i7ierungH

Not onl! do I not thin) so but I thin) that a serious e7amination of ?reud(s elaboration ofthe notion of drive runs counter to it$

rive .pulsion/ is not thrust .pousWe/$ &rieb is not rang if onl! for the following reason$

In an article written in 1915that is a !ear after the +infuhrung 3um Nar3issmus


31/46

entitled &ried and &riebschic)saleone should avoid translating it b! avatarA chic)sal

is adventrue vicissitudein this article ?reud sa!s that it is important to distinguish four

terms in the drive'rang thrust

uelle the source

bMe)t the obMectiel the aim

f course such a list ma! seem 2uite a natural one#! purpose is to prove to !ou that the whole te7t was written to show us that it is not as

natural as that

?irst of all it is essential to remember that ?reud himself tells us at the beginning of thisarticle that the drive is a


32/46

attentionE stimulus incentive urgeE v$ irritate anno! itch anger teaseE arouse e7cite

stimulate provo)e urticate sting/ .18B/

?reud(s "ei3% however is used when spea)ing of drive as differentiated from an!

stimulation coming from the outside world' it is an internal ei3$

,hat does this meanH

In order to e7plicitate it we have the notion of need,as it ismanifested in the organism at several levels and first of all at the

level of hunger and thirst$

&his is what ?reud seems to mean when he distinguishes internal e6citementfrome6ternal e6citement$

?reud does not mean that &rieb is a 2uestion of pressure need li)e hunger or thirst

&hen what does he meanH

"Is he referring to something whose agenc! is e7ercised at the level of the organism in itstotalit!H%

oes thereal 8ua totalit+irrupt hereH

No$ It is alwa!s a 2uestion 2uite specificall! of the Freudian #ield itsel# in the most

undifferentiated form that ?reud gave it at the outset' the eal-Ich$

&he eal-Ich is conceived as supported not b! the organism as a whole but b! the

nervous s!stem$

"I am stressing the surface characteristics of this field b! treating

it topologicall! and in tr!ing to show !ou how ta)ing it in the

form of a surface responds to all the needs of its handling$%

&his point is essential' &riebrei3 is that b! which certain elements of this field are sa!s

?reud invested as drive$

&his investment places us on the terrain o# an energ+and not an! energ!a%otential

energ+ for?reud articulated it in the

most pressing wa!the characteristic of the drive is to be akonstante 9ra#t a constant force .186/

In the drive there is no 2uestion of )inetic energ!E it is not a 2uestion of something thatwill be regulated with movement

&he discharge in 2uestion is of a 2uite different nature and is on a 2uite different plane


33/46

&he constanc! of the thrust forbids an! assimilation of the drive to a biological function

which alwa+s has a rh+thm$

&he first thing ?reud sa!s about the drive is if I ma! put it this wa! that is has no da! or

night no spring or autumn no rise and fall$ It has a constant force$ .185/

;t the other end of the chain ?reud refers to*e#riedigungsatis#action which he writes

out in full but in inverted commas$

,hat does he mean b!satis#action o# the driveH ,ell thatGs

simple enough !ouGll sa!$

&hesatis#action o# the driveis reaching oneGs:iel,oneGs aim$

&he wild animal emerges from its hole 8uerens 8uem devoret.searching for something to

devour/ and when he has #ound what he has to eat, he is satis#ied, he digests it$

&he ver! fact that a similar image ma! be invo)ed shows that one allows it to resonate in

harmon! with m!tholog! with strictl! spea)ing the drive$

ne obMection immediatel! springs to mind it is rather odd

that nobod! should have noticed it all the time it has beenthere an enigma which li)e all ?reudGs enigmas was sustained

as a wager to the end of his life without ?reud deigning to offer

an! further e7planationhe probabl! left the wor) to those

who could do it$

ou will remember that the third of the four fundamental vicissitudes of the drive that

?reud posits at theoutsetit is curious that there are four vicissitudes as there are

four elements of the driveissublimation$

,ell in this article ?reud tells us repeatedl! thatsublimation is also satis#action o# the

drive whereas it is 3ielgehemmt inhibited as to its aimit does not attain it$

Sublimation is nonetheless satis#action o# the drive, without re%ression.

!n other words 7#or the moment, ! am not #ucking, ! am talking to +ou.

,ell= I can have e7actl! the same satisfaction as if I was fuc)ing

.188/

&hatGs what it means$

Indeed it raises the 2uestion of whether in fact I am not fuc)ing at this moment$


34/46

Cetween these two termsdrive and satis#actionthere is set

up an e7treme antinom+that reminds us'

Ke!' "the function of the drive has for me no other purpose than to put in 2uestion what

is meant b! satisfaction% .188/

;ll those here who are ps!choanal!sts must now feel to what

e7tent I am introducing here the most essential level of accommodation$

It is clear that those with whom we deal the patients are not satis#ied as one sa!s with

what the+ are.

;nd !et we know that ever+thing the+ are, ever+thing the+ e6%erience, even their

s+m%toms, involves satis#action$

&he! satisf! something that no doubt runs counter to that with which the! might besatisfied or rather perhaps the! give satisfaction to something$

&he! are not content with their state but all the same being in a state that gives so little

content the! are content$

Ke!' &he whole 2uestion boils down to the followingwhat iscontented here)

n the whole and as a first appro7imation I would sa! thatto which the! givesatis#actionb! the wa!s ofdis%leasure

is neverthelessand this is commonl! acceptedthe law o#

%leasure.

Let us sa! that for this sort of satisfaction the! give themselves too much trouble$

>p to a point it is this too much trouble that is the sole Mustification of our intervention$

ne cannot sa! then that the aim is not attained where

satisfaction is concerned$ It is$

&his is not a definitive ethical position$

Cut at a certain level this is how we anal!sts approachthe problemthough we )now a little more than others about

what is normal and abnormal$

,e )now that the forms of arrangement that e7ist between what wor)s well and what

wor)s badl! constitute a continuous series$

,hat we have before us in anal!sis is a s!stem in which ever!thing turns out all right


35/46

and which attains its own sort of satisfaction$

If we interfere in this it is inso far as we thin) that there are other wa!s shorter ones fore7ample$ In an! case if I refer to the drive it is in so #ar as it is at the level o# the drive

that the state o# satis#action is to be recti#ied.

&his satisfaction is%arado6ical$ ,hen we loo) at it more

closel! we see that something new comes into pla!the categor! of the im%ossible$

.188/

In the foundations of the ?reudian conceptions this categor! is an absolutel! radical one$

&he%ath o# the sub-ectto use the term in relation to which alone satisfaction ma! be

situatedthe%ath o# the sub-ect %asses between the two walls o# the im%ossible$

&his function of the impossible is not to be approached without prudence li)e an!

function that is presented in a negative

form$

&he impossible and the realE in ?reud it is in this form that the real namel! the obstacleto the pleasure principle appears$

&he real is the impact with the obstacleE it is the fact that things do not turn out all rightstraight awa! as the hand that is held out to e7ternal obMects wishes$

Cut I thin) this is a 2uite illusor! and limited view of ?reud(s thought on this point$

&he real is distinguished as I said last time b! its separation from the field of thepleasure principle b! its dese7uali3ation b! the fact that its econom! later admits

something new which is precisel! the impossible .18/

Cut the impossible is also present in the other field as an

essential element$

&he%leasure %rinci%leis even characteri3ed b! the fact that the im%ossible is so %resent

in it that it is never recognized in it as such.

&he idea that the function of the pleasure principle is to satisf! itself b! hallucination isthere to illustrate thisit is onl! an illustration$

C! snatching at its obMect the drive learns in a sense that this is precisel! not the wa! itwill be satisfied$ ?or if one distinguishes at the outset of the dialectic of the drive need

from the pressure of the driveit is precisel! because no obMect of an! "Not% need can

satisf! the drive$

+ven when !ou stuff the mouththe mouth that opens in

the register of the driveit is not the #ood that satis#ies it it is

as one sa!s the%leasure o# the mouth$


36/46

&hat is wh! in anal!tic e7perience the oral driveis encountered at the final term in a

situation in which it does no more than order the menu$

&his is done no doubt with the mouth which is fundamental to the satisfactionwhat

goes out from the mouth comes bac) to the mouth and is e7hausted in that pleasure that Ihave Must called b! reference to the usual terms the pleasure of the mouth .18-8:/

&his is what ?reud tells us$ Let us loo) at what he sa!s;s

far as the ob-ect in the drive is concerned let it be clear that it is strictl! spea)ing o# no

im%ortance$ It is a matter o# total indi##erence.

ne must never read ?reud without oneGs ears coc)ed$ .18:/

,hen one reads such things one reall! ought to pric) up oneGs ears$

*ow should one conceive of the ob-ect o# the drive so that

one can sa! that in the drive,whatever it ma! be it is indi##erentH

;s far as the oral drive is concerned for e7ample it is

obvious that it is not a 2uestion of food nor of the memor! offood nor the echo of foodE nor the motherGs care but of

something that is called the breast and which seems to go o#

its own accord because it belongs to the same series$

If ?reud ma)es a remar) to the effect that the ob-ect in the drive is o# no im%ortance it is

probabl! because the breast in its function as obMect is to be revised in its entiret!$

&o this breast in its function as obMectob-et aOcause of desire

in the sense that I understand the termwe must give a #unction

that will e7plain its place in thesatis#action o# the drive$

&he best formula seems to me to be the followingthat la pulsion en fait le tour .the

drive moves around the obMectOthe drive tric)s the obMect/

I shall find other opportunities of appl!ing it to other obMects$ "&our% is to be understood

here with the ambiguit! it possesses in ?rench both turn the limit around which one

turns and tric) .18:/

I have left the 2uestion of thesourcetill last$

If we wished at all costs to introduce vital regulation into the function of the drive one

would certainl! sa! that e7amining the source is the right wa! to go about it$

,h!H ,h! are the so-called erogenous 3ones recogni3ed onl! in those points that are


37/46

differentiated for us b! their rimli)e

structureH

,h! does one spea) of the mouth and not of the oesophagus or the stomachH

&he! participate Must as much in the oral function$ Cut at the erogenous level we spea) of

the mouth of the lips and the teeth of what *omer calls the enclosure of the teeth$

&he same goes for the anal drive$ It is not enough to sa! that

a certain vital function is integrated in a function of e7changewith the worlde7crement$

&here are other e7cremental functions and there are other elements that participate in

them other than the rim of the anus which is however specificall! what for us too isdefined as the source and departure of a certain drive$

Let me sa! that i# there is an+thing resembling a driveit is a montage.

It is not a montage conceived in a perspective referring to

finalit!$

&his perspective is the one that is established in modern theories ofinstinct,in which the

presentation of an image derived from montage is 2uite stri)ing$

uch a montage for e7ample is the specific form that will ma)e the hen in the farm!ard

run to ground if !ou place within a few !ards of her the cardboard outline of a falcon that

is to sa! something that sets off a more or less appropriate reaction and where the tric) isto show us that it is not necessaril! an appropriate one$

I am not spea)ing of this sort of montage$

&he montage of the drive is a montage which first is presented

as having neither head nor tailin the sense in which onespea)s of montage in a surrealist collage$

If we bring together the parado7es that we Must defined at the level of rang at that of the

obMect at that of the aim of the drive I thin) that the resulting image would show thewor)ing of a d+namo connected up to a gas-tap a%eacock;s #eatheremerges and tic)les

the bell! of a prett! woman who is Must l!ing there loo)ing beautiful$

Indeed the thing begins to become interesting from this ver! fact that the drivedefines

according to ?reud all the forms of which one ma! reverse such a mechanism$

&his does not mean that one turns the d!namo upside-downone unrolls its wires it is

the! that become the peacoc)Gs feather the gas-tap goes into the lad!Gs mouth and the

birdGs rump emerges in the middle .189/


38/46

&his is what he shows as a developed e7ample$

ead this te7t of ?reudGs between now and ne7t time and !ou will see that it constantl+-um%s without transition between the most heterogeneous images$

;ll this occurs onl! b! means of grammatical references the artifice of which !ou willfind eas! to grasp ne7t time$

Incidentall! how can one sa! Must li)e that as ?reud goes onto do that e7hibitionism is the contrar! of vo!eurism or that

masochism is the contrar! of sadismH

*e posits this simpl! for grammatical reasons for reasons concerning the inversion of thesubMect and the obMect as if the grammatical obMect and subMect were real functions$

It is eas! to show that this is not the case and we have onl! to refer to our structure of

language for this deduction to become impossible$

Cut what b! means of this game he conve!s to us about the essence of the drive is whatne7t time I will define for !ou as the trace of the act .10/

;nswer to 2uestion of r$


39/46

structureis for the same surface a constant$

&he variations of the s!stem being what the! ma!be what is%otential at the level o# theintegration what is called the#lu6 is therefore constant$

,hat we seem to be dealing with therefore in the$rangofthe drive is something that is, and is onl+ connotablein the

relation to the


40/46

,hen it is a 2uestion of the mouth and the anal rim do !ou locate the erotici3ation at

both e7tremitiesH ,here do !ou place what ma! occur at the level of the oesophagus at

the gastric level in sniffing in vomiting at the level of the tracheaH Is there somethingprofoundl! different there from what !ou have articulated at the level of the lipsH

L;4;N' I confined m!self to the two rims concerned in thedigestive trac)$ I could also have told !ou that the rheum! rim

of our e!elids our ears our navels are also rims and that all

this is part of this function of eroticism$ In the anal!tic traditionwe alwa+s re#er to the strictl+ #ocused image o# zones reduced to their #unction as rim$

&his does not in the least mean that in our s!mptomatolog! other 3ones do not come into

pla!$ Cut we consider that the! come into pla! in that fall-out 3one that I calldese7uali3ation and function of realit!$

Let us ta)e an e7ample$ It is in the function in which the se7ual obMect moves towards the

side of realit! and presents itself as a parcel of meat that there emerges that form ofdese7uali3ation that is so obvious that it is called in the case of the h!steric a reaction of

disgust$

&his does not mean that we sa! that pleasure is located in these erogenous 3ones$

esire is concernedthan)


41/46

4h$ 16 &he Partial rive and Its 4ircuit

;t this point I will resume m! discourse on the drive$ I was

led to approach it after positing that the trans#erence is what

manifests in e7perience the enacting o# the realit+ o# the unconscious,in so far as thatrealit! is se7ualit!$

I find that I must pause here and as) m!self what this ver! affirmation involves$

If we are sure that se7ualit! is present in action in the transference it is in so far as at

certain moments it is manifested in the open in the form of love$

That is what it is about$ oes loverepresent the summit the culminating point the

indisputable factor that ma)es se7ualit! present for us in the here and now of the

transferenceH

?reudGs te7t not certainl! an! specific te7t but the central import of those writings that

deal with the drives and their vicissitudes reMects such a view in the clearest possiblewa!$

It was this te7t that I began to approach last time when I was tr!ing to ma)e !ou feel inwhat a problematic form bristling with 2uestions the introduction of the drive presents

itself$

I hope that man! of !ou will have been able to refer to this te7t in the meantimeA

+ven on a first reading !ou would have been able to see that this article falls entirel! into

two parts#irst the deconstruction of the driveEsecondl+ the e7amination of das Liebenthe act of love$ ,e shall now approach this second point$

?reud sa!s 2uite specificall! that love can in no wa! be regarded as the representative ofwhat he puts in 2uestion in the term die ganze Se6ualstrebung,that is to sa! the

tendenc+, the #orms, the convergence o# the striving in the se6ual in so far as it

culminates in =anze in an appreciable whole that would sum up its essence and

function$

&he whole point of the article is to show us that with regard to the biological finalit! ofse7ualit! namel! reproduction the drives as the! present themselves in the process of

ph!sical realit! are partial drives$

Key' In their structure in the tension the! establish the drives are lin)ed to an economic

factor$ .15/

&his economic factor depends on the conditions in which the function of the pleasure


42/46

principle is e7ercised at a level that I will ta)e up again at the right time in the term

"eal&!ch$

Let me sa! at once that we can conceptuali3e the eal-Ich as the central nervous s!stem

in so far as it functions not as a s!stem of relations but as a s!stem intended to ensure a

certain homeostasis of the internal tensions$ .15/

It is because of the realit+ o# the homeostatic s+stemthatse6ualit+ comes into %la+onl! in

the form of%artial drives$

&he drive is precisel! that montageb! which se7ualit! participates in the ps!chical life

in a wa! that must conform to thega%&like structurethat is thestructure o# the

unconscious$ .18/

Let us place ourselves at the two e6tremesof theanal+tic

e6%erience.

&he%rimal re%ressedis asigni#ier and we can

alwa!s regard what is built on this as constituting thes+m%tom8uaasca##olding o# signi#iers$

epressed and s!mptom are homogeneous and reducible to the functions of signifiers$

;lthough their structure is built u% ste% b+ ste%li)e an! edifice

it is nevertheless in the end inscribable in s+nchronic terms$

;t the other e7treme there is inter%retation$

!nter%retationconcerns the factor of as%ecial tem%oral structurethat I have tried todefine in the term meton+m+$

;s it draws to its end inter%retationis directed towards desire with which in a certainsense it is identical$

$esire in fact is inter%retation itsel#

In between, there is se6ualit+$

If se7ualit! in the form of the partial drives had not manifested itself as dominating thewhole econom! of this interval our e7perience would be reduced to a mantic to which

the neutral term ps!chical energ! would then have been appropriate but in which it

would miss what constitutes in it the presence the$asein of se7ualit!$

&he legibilit! of se7 in the interpretation of the unconscious

mechanisms is alwa!s retroactive


43/46

It would merel! be of the nature of interpretation if at each moment of the histor! we

could be certain onl! that the partial drives intervened effectivel! in time and place$

;nd not as one tended to believe at the beginning of anal!tic e7perience in an erratic

form$

&hat infantile se7ualit! is not a wandering bloc) of ice snatched from the great ice-ban)

of adult se7ualit! intervening as an attraction over an immature subMectthis was proved

at once in anal!sis and with what later might seem a surprising significance$

In Three 1ssa+s on the Theor+ o# Se6ualit+ ?reud was able to

positse6ualit+as essentiall!%ol+mor%hous, aberrant$ &he spell

of a supposed infantile innocence was bro)en$ Cecause it wasimposed so earl! I would almost sa! too earl! this se7ualit!

made us pass too 2uic)l! over an e7amination of what it essentiall! represents$

.18/

&hat is to sa! that with regard to the agenc! of se7ualit! all subMects are e2ual from the

child to the adultthat the! deal onl! with that part of se7ualit! that passes into thenetwor)s of the constitution of the subMect into the networ)s

of the signifierthat se6ualit+ is realized onl+ through the

o%eration o# the drivesin so far as the! are%artial drives partial

with regardto the biological #inalit+ o# se6ualit+$

The integration o# se6ualit+into the dialectic o# desirepasses

through the bringing into pla! of what in the bod! deservesto be designated b! the term a%%aratusif !ou understand b!

this that with which the bod! with regard to se7ualit! ma! fit

itself up .sGappareiller/ as opposed to that with which bodies ma! be paired off.sGapparier/$

If all is con#usionin the discussion o# the se6ual drivesit isbecause one does not see that the driverepresents no doubt but

merel! represents and partiall! at that the curve of fulfilment

of se7ualit! in the living being$

!s it sur%rising that its #inal term should be death, when the %resence o# se6 in the living

being is bound u% with death)

&oda! I have copied out on the blac)board a fragment of

*eraclitus which I found in the monumental wor) in which

iels has gathered together for us the scattered remains of thepre-ocratic period$ To the bow.Cios/ he writes and this

emerges for us as one of his lessons in wisdom which before all

the circuit of scientific elaboration went straight to the target to the bow is given the

name o# li#e.Cios/ the accent being this time on the first s!llable/ and its work is death$


44/46

,hat the driveintegrates at the outset in its ver! e7istence

is a dialectic o# the bow I would even sa! of archer+.

In this wa! we can situate its place in the ps!chical econom!

?reud now introduces us to the drive b! one of the most traditional wa!s using at ever!

moment the resources of the language and not hesitating to base himself on something

that belongs onl! to certain linguistic s!stems the three voices' active passive andrefle7ive$

Cut this is merel! an envelope$

,e must see that this signif!ing reversion is something other something other than whatit dresses in$

,hat is fundamental at the level of each drive is the movement outwards and bac) in

which it is structured$

.1/

It is remar)able that ?reud can designate these two polessimpl! b! using something that is the verb' to see and to be seen to torment and to be

tormented$

&his is because from the outset ?reud ta)es it as understood that no part of this distancecovered can be separated from its outwards-and-bac) movement from its fundamental

reversion from the circular character of the path of the drive$

imilarl! it is remar)able that in order to illustrate the

dimension of this Jer)ehrung he should choose Schaulust,the

%leasure o# seeing and what he cannot designate other than b!the combination of two terms insado&masochism$

,hen he spea)s of these two drives and especiall! of masochism he is careful to

observe that there are not two stages in these drives, but three.

ne must distinguish the return into the circuit of the drive of that which appearsbut

also does not appearin athird stage$

Namel! the appearance of ein neues Sub-ekt to beunderstood as followsnot in the sense that there is alread!

one namel! the subMect of the drive but in that what is new is the appearance of a

subMect$


45/46

&his subMect which is properl! the other appears in so far as the drive has been able to

show its circular course

.1:/

It is onl! with its appearance at the level of the other that what there is of the function ofthe drive ma! be reali3ed .1:-9/

It is to this that I would now li)e to draw !our attention$ou see here on the blac)board a circuit formed b! the curve

of this rising and redescending arrow that crosses rang as it is

in its origin the surface constituted b! what I defined last time

as the rim which is regarded in the theor! as the source theMulle that is to sa! the so-called erogenous 3one in the drive$

&he tension is alwa!s loop-shaped and cannot be separated

from its return to the erogenous 3one$

*ere we can clear up the m!ster! of the 3ielgel3emmt of thatform that the drive ma! assume in attaining its satisfaction

without attaining its aimin so far as it would be defined b! abiological function b! the reali3ation of reproductive coupling$

?or the partial drive does not lie there$ ,hat is itH

Let us still suspend the answer but let us concentrate on thisterm but and on the two meanings it ma! present$ In order to

differentiate them I have chosen to notate them here in a

language in which the! are particularl! e7pressive +nglish$

,hen !ou entrust someone with a mission the aim is not whathe brings bac) but the itinerar! he must ta)e$ &he aim is the

wa! ta)en$ &he ?rench word but ma! be translated b! another

word in +nglish goal$ In archer! the goal is not the but eitherit is not the bird !ou shoot it is having scored a hit and thereb!

attained !our but$

If the drive ma! be satisfied without attaining what from thepoint of view of a biological totali3ation of function would be

the satisfaction of its end of reproduction it is because it is a

partial drive and its aim is simpl! this return into circuit$

&his theor! is present in ?reud$ *e tells us somewhere thatthe ideal model for auto-eroticism would be a single mouth

)issing itselfa brilliant even da33ling metaphor in this respect

so t!pical of ever!thing he writes and which re2uiresonl! to be completed b!a2uestion$ In the drive is not this mouth

what might be called a mouth in the form of an arrowHa

mouth sewn up in which in anal!sis we see indicating asclearl! as possible in certain silences the pure agenc! of the

oral drive closing upon


46/46

chumpeter notes'

Irvine Paper

Documents

Transcript of Irvine Paper