2 h 38 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 38 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Why does the mind return to pain when it seems built to seek pleasure?
In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Sigmund Freud confronts evidence that unsettles his own account of the mind. Dreams after terrible shocks, the experiences of his patients, and his small grandson's game raise a stubborn question: why do people repeat what hurts them instead of moving toward calm and satisfaction?
This short essay follows Freud as he builds an answer, step by step. He introduces repetition compulsion and proposes a death drive, set against the life-sustaining drives he calls Eros. He openly calls these ideas speculation and admits his doubts. The stakes are his understanding of what steers human behavior.
What you’ll discover
- Pleasure under pressure Explore the principle Freud starts from, and the painful experiences that put it in doubt.
- Dreams that return to pain Consider why dreams after terrible shocks challenge the idea that mental life seeks satisfaction.
- A child's revealing game Follow Freud's attention to his grandson's play as he examines repetition in an everyday scene.
- The pull of repetition Encounter patients who act out painful experiences they cannot remember, bringing repetition into the consulting room.
- Eros and the death drive Trace a speculative struggle between drives that sustain life and a pull toward an earlier state.
Who will love it
For readers curious about why people repeat their mistakes, and for anyone who wants to meet Freud's thinking at a turning point.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The mind seeks pleasure, but not always
- Trauma makes the mind relive its pain
- A child's game shows repetition at work
- Patients and fates repeat what hurts them
- Instincts pull backward toward an earlier state
- Eros and death, and what comes after
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 2 h 38 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Au-delà du principe de plaisir in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Au-delà du principe de plaisir
by Sigmund Freud · 1920
A child's game and soldiers' dreams lead Freud to ask why the mind repeats what hurts.
Challenging2–5 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Beyond the Pleasure Principle is a short essay by Sigmund Freud, published in 1920 when he was in his sixties. For years he had held that the mind is steered by one aim, which is to gain pleasure and avoid pain.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The mind seeks pleasure, but not always
Freud opens with the pleasure principle. This is the view that mental life aims to lower tension, which we feel as unpleasure, and to reach a state of calm and satisfaction. He draws on the investigator Fechner's idea that the mind tends toward stability. Freud links this to what he calls the constancy principle, the effort to keep the level of excitation as low as possible.
But the pleasure principle cannot rule alone, and Freud says so. If it did, most mental processes would bring pleasure or lead to it. So the mind learns to bend to the outer world. This second rule he names the reality principle. It delays or gives up some satisfactions because the world forbids them, and it accepts a little pain for a safer gain later.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Au-delà du principe de plaisir
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Beyond the Pleasure Principle about?
It asks why people repeat painful experiences if the mind seeks pleasure. Freud looks at war trauma, a child's game and patients in analysis, and proposes a drive toward death alongside the life drive, Eros.
What is the death drive?
It is Freud's idea that living things have a basic urge to return to an earlier, inorganic state, which means a pull toward rest and death. He offers it as speculation, and later analysts have disagreed about it.
What is repetition compulsion?
It is the urge to repeat painful or disturbing experiences, in dreams, in behaviour or in relationships. Freud saw it in trauma survivors and in patients who acted out old conflicts with their analyst.
The author
Sigmund Freud
1856–1939 · Austrian founder of psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist and the founder of psychoanalysis. Born in Freiberg, now Příbor in the Czech Republic, he lived and worked in Vienna before moving to London in 1938. He wrote The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905).
More by Sigmund Freud
All 8 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
