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Summary of '26th Conference. The Theory of Libido and Narcissism' by Freud
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26th CONFERENCE: THE THEORY OF LIBIDO AND NARCISSISMSigmund Freud (1917)
Summary:
On several occasions, we have addressed the separation between ego instincts and sexual instincts. Repression showed that both
can come into opposition, and sexual instincts can be formally subdued and then seek satisfaction through regressive detours.
Furthermore, we learned that both maintain a different relationship with the primary impulse, and that sexual instincts are more
intimately linked to the affective state of anxiety. We cannot be deprived of our right to separate sexual instincts from ego instincts,
although biology offers indications of the importance of this issue.
Sexuality is the only function of the living organism that transcends the individual and unites it with the species. For the clarification
of neuroses, it is not necessary to adopt such broad perspectives. By separately investigating sexual instincts and ego instincts, we
obtained the key to understanding transference neuroses: sexual instincts conflict with instincts of self -preservation. This
disagreement may be exclusive to humans, making neurosis their privilege compared to animals.
Until now, our premise has been that we can distinguish, by their manifestations, between ego instincts and sexual instincts. In
transfer neuroses, this is achieved without difficulty. We call "libido" the energies that the ego directs towards objects of its sexual
aspirations, and "interest" all other energies sent by instincts of self-preservation. By following the transformations and final
destinies of these energies, we began to understand the structure of soul forces, and transfer neuroses provided us with the most
favourable material for this.
Early on, we began to apply psychoanalytic conceptions to other conditions, such as dementia praecox. Karl Abraham formulated
the thesis that the lack of libidinal investment in objects is the main feature of this psychotic illness. Abraham suggested that libido,
deprived of external objects, is inverted towards the ego, giving rise to the delusion of grandeur. These early ideas were maintained
in psychoanalysis and became the basis of our position towards psychoses.
Gradually, we became familiar with the idea that libido, initially attached to objects, can be withdrawn, and directed towards the
ego, a process we call narcissism. This concept helped us better understand the formation of psychotic disorders. Through images
such as those of amoebas, we could explain a series of mental states, including infatuation, organic illness, and sleep.
Sleep, for example, is characterized by the withdrawal of all object investments, both libidinal and egoistic, towards the ego. This
process relates to the rest provided by sleep and the nature of fatigue in general. In the sleeper, the original state of l ibido
distribution, full narcissism, is restored, where libido and ego interest remain united within the ego.
Here we must make two important observations. The first is the conceptual distinction between narcissism and egoism. Narcissism
is the libidinal complement of egoism. While egoism refers to utility for the individual, narcissism also implies libidinal s atisfaction.
Although they can be studied separately, egoism and narcissism can coexist, with narcissism being the variable elemen t. On the
other hand, altruism, opposed to egoism, does not coincide with libidinal object investment, as it lacks aspirations for sexu al
satisfaction.
The second observation complements the theory of sleep. We cannot explain the genesis of sleep without considering that
repressed unconscious acquires a certain independence from the ego, retaining its investments even when all ego -dependent
object investments are gathered for sleep. This allows the unconscious to take advantage of the reduction of nocturnal censorship
to form forbidden dream wishes. Additionally, daytime residues may resist the gathering of libido due to their pre-existing
connection with the repressed unconscious.
In summary, these observations help us better understand the relationship between narcissism and egoism, as well as the
formation of dreams and the manifestation of certain psychological conditions, such as hypochondria.
But I will not succumb to the temptation to delve into this path or to elucidate other situations that we could understand or expose
through the migration of libido from object to ego. Rather, I am urged to address two objections to which I know you are pa ying
attention. First, you wish to question my effort to firmly distinguish between libido and interest, between sexual drive and ego
drive, in sleeping, illness, and similar situations. You consider that we could explain these observations with the assump tion of a
single and unitary energy that can be inverted towards the object or the ego depending on the situation. Second, you reproach
me for treating the detachment of libido from the object as a source of a pathological state, when this process of transposing libido
from object to ego is a normal phenomenon that occurs daily.
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