No.811
Can someone explain "the deathdrive" to me?
>In the context of political agency
No.820
Freud proposed the concept of a death drive as a propensity of living things to return to inorganic state of death.
The death drive was to be responsible for many self destructive impulses, most importantly to this discussion is that of outward aggression.
In a group context he proposed the death drive was deflected outward as aggression towards those outside the group, the effect being that would bring those inside the group closer together.
In political agency this outward aggression could pose as inherent resistance against outsider information and aversion to candidates not in one's group even if they would otherwise align with one's interests.
Freud spoke in private that aggression and eros might have made a better base pair than the death drive, but continued to support the drive none the less.
Neurobiology would seem to confirm that humans have dedicated systems for aggression (amygdala, serotonin), but that it is more important to self preservation than self destruction.