Death drive in Lacan (1): Death drive redux

The first step in understanding Lacan’s reconceptualization of Freud’s notion of the death drive is to check all of one’s prior assumptions about the idea at the door. Drawing on the work of Slavoj Zizek - who plays the role of tour guide in our overview of this crucial psychoanalytic concept - we focus here on what the death drive is NOT for Lacan. Four ideas prove crucial here. The death drive is not, firstly, in any way biological for Lacan. Secondly, it is not to be conceived in the terms of an opposition between Eros and Thanatos, that is, between “instincts“ of life and death. It should not, thirdly, be understood as a type of Nirvana-like release, or, fourthly, as a kind of impulse to self-annihilation. A far more important Freudian concept for Lacan’s rethinking of the death drive , , , you get it. Link to board: