The Theory of Psychoanalysis

by C. G. Jung

The Genetic Conception of Libido

With greater experience in my analytical work, I noticed that a slow change of my conception of libido had taken place. A genetic conception of libido gradually took the place of the descriptive definition of libido contained in Freud’s “Three Contributions.” Thus it became possible for me to replace, by the expression “psychic energy,” the term libido. The next step was that I asked myself if now-a-days the function of reality consists only to a very small extent of sexual libido, and to a very large extent of other impulses. It is still a very important question, considered from the phylogenetic standpoint, whether the function of reality is not, at least very largely, of sexual origin. It is impossible to answer this question directly, in so far as the function of reality is concerned. We shall try to come to some understanding by a side-path.

A superficial glance at the history of evolution suffices to teach us that innumerable complicated functions, whose sexual character must be denied, are originally nothing but derivations from the instinct of propagation. As is well known, there has been an important displacement in the fundamentals of propagation during the ascent through the animal scale. The offspring has been reduced in number, and the primitive uncertainty of impregnation has been replaced by a quite assured impregnation, and a more effective protection of offspring. The energy required for the production of eggs and sperma has been transferred into the creation of mechanisms of attraction, and mechanisms for the protection of offspring. Here we find the first instincts of art in animals, used for the instinct of propagation, and limited to the rutting season. The original sexual character of these biological institutions became lost with their organic fixation, and their functional independence. None the less, there can be no doubt as to their sexual origin, as, for instance, there is no doubt about the original relation between sexuality and music, but it would be a generalization as futile, as unesthetic, to include music under the category of sexuality. Such a terminology would lead to the consideration of the Cathedral of Cologne under mineralogy, because it has been built with stones. Those quite ignorant of the problems of evolution are much astonished to find how few things there are in human life which cannot finally be reduced to the instinct of propagation. It embraces nearly everything, I think, that is dear and precious to us.

We have hitherto spoken of the libido as of the instinct of reproduction, or the instinct of the preservation of the species, and limited our conception to that libido which is opposed to hunger, just as the instinct of the preservation of the species is opposed to that of self-preservation. Of course in nature this artificial distinction does not exist. Here we find only a continuous instinct of life, a will to live, which tries to obtain the propagation of the whole race by the preservation of the individual. To this extent this conception coincides with that of Schopenhauer’s “will,” as objectively we can only conceive a movement as a manifestation of an internal desire. As we have already boldly concluded that the libido, which originally subserved the creation of eggs and seed, is now firmly organized in the function of nest-building, and can no longer be employed otherwise, we are similarly obliged to include in this conception every desire, hunger no less. We have no warrant whatever for differentiating essentially the desire to build nests from the desire to eat.

I think you will already understand the position we have reached with these considerations. We are about to follow up the energic conception by putting the energic mode of action in place of the purely formal functioning. Just as reciprocal actions, well known in the old natural science, have been replaced by the law of the conservation of energy, so here too, in the sphere of psychology, we seek to replace the reciprocal activities of coordinated psychical faculties by energy, conceived as one and homogeneous. Thus we must bow to the criticism which reproaches the psychoanalytic school for working with a mystical conception of libido. I have to dispel this illusion that the whole psychoanalytic school possesses a clearly conceived and obvious conception of libido. I maintain that the conception of libido with which we are working is not only not concrete or known, but is an unknown X, a conceptual image, a token, and no more real than the energy in the conceptual world of the physicist. In this wise only can we escape those arbitrary transgressions of the proper boundaries, which are always made when we want to reduce coördinated forces to one another. Certain analogies of the action of heat with the action of light are not to be explained by saying that this tertium comparationis proves that the undulations of heat are the same as the undulations of light; the conceptual image of energy is the real point of comparison. If we regard libido in this way we endeavor to simulate the progress which has already been made in physics. The economy of thought which physics has already obtained we strive after in our libido theory. We conceive libido now simply as energy, so that we are in the position to figure the manifold processes as forms of energy. Thus, we replace the old reciprocal action by relations of absolute equivalence. We shall not be astonished if we are met with the cry of vitalism. But we are as far removed from any belief in a specific vital power, as from any other metaphysical assertion. We term libido that energy which manifests itself by vital processes, which is subjectively perceived as aspiration, longing and striving. We see in the diversity of natural phenomena the desire, the libido, in the most diverse applications and forms. In early childhood we find libido at first wholly in the form of the instinct of nutrition, providing for the development of the body. As the body develops, there open up, successively, new spheres of influence for the libido. The last, and, from its functional significance, most overpowering sphere of influence, is sexuality, which at first seems very closely connected with the function of nutrition. With that you may compare the well-known influence on propagation of the conditions of nutrition in the lower animals and plants.

In the sphere of sexuality, libido does take that form whose enormous importance justifies us in the choice of the term “libido,” in its strict sexual sense. Here for the first time libido appears in the form of an undifferentiated sexual primitive power, as an energy of growth, clearly forcing the individual towards division, budding, etc. The clearest separation of the two forms of libido is found among those animals where the stage of nutrition is separated by the pupa stage from the stage of sexuality. Out of this sexual primitive power, through which one small creature produces millions of eggs and sperm, derivatives have been developed by extraordinary restriction of fecundity, the functions of which are maintained by a special differentiated libido. This differentiated libido is henceforth desexualized, for it is dissociated from its original function of producing eggs and sperm, nor is there any possibility of restoring it to its original function. The whole process of development consists in the increasing absorption of the libido which only created, originally, products of generation in the secondary functions of attraction, and protection of offspring. This development presupposes a quite different and much more complicated relationship to reality, a true function of reality which is functionally inseparable from the needs of reproduction. Thus the altered mode of reproduction involves a correspondingly increased adaptation to reality. This, of course, does not imply that the function of reality is exclusively due to differentiation in reproduction. I am aware that a large part of the instinct of nutrition is connected with it. Thus we arrive at an insight into certain primitive conditions of the function of reality. It would be fundamentally wrong to pretend that the compelling source is still a sexual one. It was largely a sexual one originally. The process of absorption of the primitive libido into secondary functions certainly always took place in the form of so-called affluxes of sexual libido (“libidinöse Zuschüsse”).

That is to say, sexuality was diverted from its original destination, a definite quantity was used up in the mechanisms of mutual attraction and of protection of offspring. This transference of sexual libido from the sexual sphere to associated functions is still taking place (e. g., modern neo-Malthusianism is the artificial continuation of the natural tendency). We call this process sublimation, when this operation occurs without injury to the adaptation of the individual; we call it repression—when the attempt fails. From the descriptive standpoint psychoanalysis accepts the multiplicity of instincts, and, among them, the instinct of sexuality as a special phenomenon, moreover, it recognizes certain affluxes of the libido to asexual instincts.

From the genetic standpoint it is otherwise. It regards the multiplicity of instincts as issuing out of relative unity, the primitive libido. It recognizes that definite quantities of the primitive libido are split off, associated with the recently created functions, and finally merged in them. From this standpoint we can say, without any difficulty, that patients with dementia præcox withdraw their “libido” from the external world and in consequence suffer a loss of reality, which is compensated by an increase of the phantasy-building activities.

We must now fit the new conception of libido into that theory of sexuality in childhood which is of such great importance in the theory of neurosis. Generally speaking, we first find the libido as the energy of vital activities acting in the zone of the function of nutrition. Through the rhythmical movements in the act of sucking, nourishment is taken with all signs of satisfaction. As the individual grows and his organs develop, the libido creates new ways of desire, new activities and satisfactions. Now the original model—rhythmic activity, creating pleasure and satisfaction—must be transferred to other functions which have their final goal in sexuality.

This transition is not made suddenly at puberty, but it takes place gradually throughout the course of the greater part of childhood. The libido can only very slowly and with great difficulty detach itself from the characteristics of the function of nutrition, in order to pass over into the characteristics of sexual function. As far as I can see, we have two epochs during this transition, the epoch of sucking and the epoch of the displaced rhythmic activity. Considered solely from the point of view of its mode of action, sucking clings entirely to the domain of the function of nutrition, but it presents also a far wider aspect, it is no mere function of nutrition, it is a rhythmical activity, with its goal in a pleasure and satisfaction of its own, distinct from the obtaining of nourishment. The hand comes into play as an accessory organ. In the epoch of the displaced rhythmical activity it stands out still more as an accessory organ, when the oral zone ceases to give pleasure, which must now be obtained in other directions. The possibilities are many. As a rule the other openings of the body become the first objects of interest of the libido; then follow the skin in general and certain places of predilection upon it.

The actions carried out at these places generally take the form of rubbing, piercing, tugging, etc., accompanied by a certain rhythm, and serve to produce pleasure. After a halt of greater or less duration at these stations, the libido proceeds until it arrives at the sexual zone, where it may next provoke the first onanistic attempts. During its “march,” the libido carries over not a little from the function of nutrition into the sexual zone; this readily explains the numerous close associations between the function of nutrition and the sexual function.

This “march” of the libido takes place at the time of the pre-sexual stage, which is characterized by the fact that the libido gradually relinquishes the special character of the instinct of nutrition, and by degrees acquires the character of the sexual instinct. At this stage we cannot yet speak of a true sexual libido. Therefore we are obliged to qualify the polymorphous perverse sexuality of early infancy differently. The polymorphism of the tendencies of the libido at this time is to be explained as the gradual movement of the libido away from the sphere of the function of nutrition towards the sexual function.

The Infantile “Perversity.”—Thus rightly vanishes the term “perverse”—so strongly contested by our opponents—for it provokes a false idea.

When a chemical body breaks up into its elements, these elements are the products of its disintegration, but it is not permissible on that account to describe elements as entirely products of disintegration. Perversities are disorders of fully-developed sexuality, but are never precursors of sexuality, although there is undoubtedly an analogy between the precursors and the products of disintegration. The childish rudiments, no longer to be conceived as perverse, but to be regarded as stages of development, change gradually into normal sexuality, as the normal sexuality develops.

The more smoothly the libido withdraws from its provisional positions, the more completely and the more quickly does the formation of normal sexuality take place. It is proper to the conception of normal sexuality that all those early infantile inclinations which are not yet sexual should be given up. The less this is the case, the more is sexuality threatened with perverse development. The expression “perverse” is here used in its right place. The fundamental condition of a perversity is an infantile, imperfectly developed state of sexuality.

CHAPTER IV
The Etiological Significance of the Infantile Sexuality

Now that we have decided what is to be understood as infantile sexuality, we can follow up the discussion of the theory of the neuroses, which we began in the first lecture and then dropped. We followed the theory of the neuroses up to the point where we ran against Freud’s statement, that the tendency which brings a traumatic event to a pathological activity, is a sexual one. From our foregoing considerations we understand what is meant by a sexual tendency. It is a standing still, a retardation in that process whereby the libido frees itself from the manifestations of the pre-sexual stage.

First of all, we must regard this disturbance as a fixation. The libido, in its transition from the function of nutrition to the sexual function, lingers unduly at certain stages. A disharmony is created, since provisional and, as it were, worn-out activities, persist at a period when they should have been overcome. This formula is applicable to all those infantile characteristics so prevalent among neurotic people that no attentive observer can have overlooked them. In dementia præcox it is so obtrusive that a symptom complex, hebephrenia, derives its name therefrom.

The matter is not ended, however, by saying that the libido lingers in the preliminary stages, for while the libido thus lingers, time does not stand still, and the development of the individual is always proceeding apace. The physical maturation increases the contrast and the disharmony between the persistent infantile manifestations, and the demands of the later age, with its changed conditions of life. In this way the foundation is laid for the dissociation of the personality, and thereby to that conflict which is the real basis of the neuroses. The more the libido is in arrears in practice, the more intense will be the conflict. The traumatic or pathogenic moment is the one which serves best to make this conflict manifest. As Freud showed in his earlier works, one can easily imagine a neurosis arising in this way.

This conception fitted in rather well with the views of Janet, who ascribed neurosis to a certain defect. From this point of view the neurosis could be regarded as a product of retardation in the development of affectivity; and I can easily imagine that this conception must seem selfevident to every one who is inclined to derive the neuroses more or less directly from heredity or congenital degeneration.