Abstract

The subject of this article is a rational reconstruction of Freud's dualistic conception of drive based on the principles of sexuality and aggression. In the first two parts today's most popular theses about this conception will be discussed critically. The last two parts of the article unfold a conception in which the search for pleasure, which is basic to all activities, replaces the fundamental principle of motivation theory, whose elementary attributes are the phenomena of sexuality and aggression. Important advantages of this conception are its logical-semantical consistence, a decrease in dogmatism and an increase in the plausibility of psychoanalytical anthropology.