The will in Schopenhauer and the drives in psychoanalysis: pulses and ambivalences

Abstract

In an attempt to establish a relationship between philosophy and psychoanalysis, more specifically between Schopenhauer and Freud, this work aims at a dialogue between the way Schopenhauer conceives the will and the way Freud considers the drives. We remember the words of Almeida, in Eros and Thanatos: life, death, desire, the passage in which the philosopher says it would be more accurate to say that the will in Schopenhauer, as well as the drives in Freud, have in fact an object, however, that object is never completely bridged or dominated, since none of them would be likely to mitigate the hunger of desire. Thus, it becomes an inescapable paradox that highlights the inherent tension between the time in which we find a reconciliation with the fundamental impetus. Briefly we dissipate it, but the reawakening of desire marked by the insatiability of always wanting more, shows the true meaning of desire.