death instinct
Freudian entropy urge
Death instinct is a psychoanalytic concept proposed by Freud: an unconscious drive toward destruction, self-destruction, and return to an inorganic state.
It opposes the life instinct (Eros) and manifests as aggression, repetition compulsion, and risk-taking behavior.
The theory remains controversial, with many psychologists rejecting it as unfalsifiable speculation.
Quantified chaos in systems
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- oblivionComplete erasure from memory
- nothingnessComplete absence of existence
- negationDenial or cancellation
finitude · mortality · annihilation · extinction · impermanence · decay · Schopenhauer · pessimism
Undermining your own goals
- masochismPleasure derived from suffering
- self-harmDeliberately damaging one's body
- suicidal ideationThoughts of ending one's life
- nihilismRejection of objective meaning
addiction · recklessness · self-punishment · mortification · self-annihilation · fatalism · despair · hopelessness
Tendency to cause ruin
- violenceHarmful physical force
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
- rageIntense, violent anger
- sadismPleasure from inflicting pain
annihilation · combativeness · antagonism · belligerence · fury · wrath · ferocity · cruelty
Founder of psychoanalysis
- libidoInnate erotic drive
- ErosGreek deity of desire
- unconsciousNot awake or aware
- idUnconscious instinctual drives
ego · superego · repression · pleasure principle · psychodynamics · psychosexual · transference · defense mechanisms
entropy
Quantified chaos in systems
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- oblivionComplete erasure from memory
- nothingnessComplete absence of existence
negation · finitude · mortality · annihilation · extinction · impermanence · decay · Schopenhauer · pessimism · futility
self-sabotage
Undermining your own goals
- masochismPleasure derived from suffering
- self-harmDeliberately damaging one's body
- suicidal ideationThoughts of ending one's life
nihilism · addiction · recklessness · self-punishment · mortification · self-annihilation · fatalism · despair · hopelessness · melancholy
destructiveness
Tendency to cause ruin
- violenceHarmful physical force
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
- rageIntense, violent anger
sadism · annihilation · combativeness · antagonism · belligerence · fury · wrath · ferocity · cruelty · brutality
Freud
Founder of psychoanalysis
- libidoInnate erotic drive
- ErosGreek deity of desire
- unconsciousNot awake or aware
id · ego · superego · repression · pleasure principle · psychodynamics · psychosexual · transference · defense mechanisms · sublimation
death instinctsurvival instinct
Inborn drive to live
will to live · life force · élan vital · vital force · self-preservation
death, deaths, deadly, deathly, instinct, instincts, instinctive, instinctively, instinctual