title: Instinct as interactive structure: Freud's psychoanalysis in historical and metatheoretical perspective.
abstract: When Freud began formulating the basic postulates of psychoanalytic theory the concept of instinct was in widespread use. There are very different models of conceptualizing instincts in psychoanalysis: reflex arc, representation, interaction, subject and finally a regressive structure. Freud revised the traditional concept of instinct and his models formed a peculiar metatheoretical history of psychoanalysis. Defining human nature by reference to its determining instinctive essence and commitment to the ideal of natural science led Freud to a naturalistic fallacy. Yet at the same time the hermeneutics of instinct theory reveal a socio-historical meaning of naturalism.
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jovanović
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D001293:Attitude to Death / Q000208:ethnology; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005619:Freudian Theory / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D040821:Human Characteristics; D007323:Instinct; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010811:Natural Science Disciplines / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D011908:Rationalization