Towards the Limits of Freudian Thinking

Sigmund Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle stands as a foundational text in psychoanalysis, delving into profound questions about life, death, pleasure and pain. Through a combination of contextualising and philosophical contributions, this critical edition and commentary sheds new light on Freud’s text. In a series of contributions spanning approaches from historical exegesis to philosophical reflections on key concepts and ideas presented in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, the evolution and inconsistencies found in the various versions of the text are highlighted. Particular emphasis is placed on the conceptualisation of trauma and drive theory. These commentaries also provide context for the work, examining its position within the Freudian corpus, its role in the collaborative project with Sándor Ferenczi in speculative bioanalysis, and its clinical insights into war neuroses, trauma, bonding and aggression in post-World War I society. By critically examining diverse interpretations of Freud’s work, Towards the Limits of Freudian Thinking re-actualises this classic text in contemporary philosophy and psychoanalysis, rendering it accessible to both specialised and broader audiences.

Herman Westerink is endowed and associate professor at the Center for Contemporary Philosophy, Radboud University Nijmegen.

Jenny Willner is assistant professor at the Department for Comparative Literature, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Philippe Van Haute (†) was professor of philosophical anthropology at the Radboud University Nijmegen, a practising psychoanalyst at the Belgian School for Psychoanalysis and extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria.

This book is a major intellectual event. It sheds new light on the genesis and the interpretation of one of the most difficult and most studied — but least well understood — cornerstones of psychoanalytic theory. The specific focus on the role played by theories of biology raises provocative questions about the very definition of life and death and resonates with current discussions about biology and psychic life. - Elissa Marder, Emory University