New aspects of Freud's concept of the death instinct

In public and also often in discussions of the human sciences concerning violence a tendency prevails to refer to Freud's concept of the death instinct which ontologizes man's destructiveness. This paper argues against the assumptions of the genuine destructive nature of man by taking into account new neurophysiologic research on how violence influences the functioning of the brain. The basic principles of Freud's death instinct repetition compulsion and the nirvana principle become thus understandable as dysfunctional reactions of the brain, i.e. an inner physiological response to violence and neglect in early childhood.

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eISSN:	2083-828X
ISSN:	1509-2046

The journal is supported by the State Treasury as part of the Development of Scientific Journals (RCN) program
Project no. RCN/SN/0189/2021/1 implemented from 2022 to 2024
Total value of the project: PLN 200 000
Amount funded by the MEiN: PLN 80 000
Aims of the project: Publication in Open Access mode on the Internet of 8 consecutive issues of the journal Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (years 2022-2024). Modernization and redesign of the journal’s website. Financing of the Editorial System. Copy editing and proofreading of journal issues. Counteracting scientific misinformation. Submission of electronic versions of the journal to the National Digital Library Polona and the Digital Library of Scientific Publications Academica.