Notes on ‘Bemächtigungstrieb’ and Strachey’s translation as ‘instinct for mastery’

Abstract

This short paper looks at Freud’s use of the term ‘Bemächtigungstrieb’ and its translation by Strachey as ‘instinct for mastery’ when Freud was describing the motives behind his grandson’s game with the wooden reel and string in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. The word ‘Macht’ [power], which is contained in the word ‘Bemächtigung’ points to Freud’s difficult relationship with Alfred Adler, whose early theories on the aggressive drive and later theories on ‘striving for power’ were initially rejected by Freud. Looking at the changes in Freud’s reception of Adlerian terms, some of which he later integrated into his own theory, throws light on his choice of the word ‘Bemächtigungstrieb’ in 1920, when he was just beginning to introduce his thoughts on the death instinct. A slightly different translation of the word ‘Bemächtigungstrieb’, one which takes these historical and theoretical aspects into account, could make these connections clearer for the English reader.

Key words:

• aggressive drive
• Alfred Adler
• Bemächtigungstrieb
• game with the reel and string
• instinct for mastery
• power
• translation

Notes

1. In the midst of these controversial discussions of the Viennese Society, in 1905, Freud also uses the word ‘Bemächtigungstrieb’ in the second of his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality when writing about impulses of cruelty in the pregenital phase and their later manifestation in sado‐masochistic tendencies. Here too, Strachey translates the word ‘Bemächtigungstrieb’ as ‘instinct for mastery’ (Freud, 1905, p. 193).