The concept of drive plays an important interdisciplinary role in the modern history of ideas. At the turn of the 20th century, the theory of drives became a distinguishing mark of Freud’s psychoanalysis, but the concept has a tradition that dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries life sciences. Around 1800, the concept of drive also became of great importance to classical German philosophy.
Considering the historical origins of the concept, the proposed project aims to undertake the first systematic study of drives in classical German philosophy, focusing on the connections and transformations central to the development from Kant to Hegel.
Within their theories, the concept of drive functions as an intermediary notion that bridges the gap between nature and freedom, and links the normative claims of ethics with the findings of biology and anthropology.
The value of this research
A historical and systematic study of the concept of drive allows us to interpret the developments within classical German philosophy from a new perspective that brings to the fore the tensions between normative and naturalistic conceptions of nature and human life. Against this background, a wide-ranging discussion about the risks and opportunities that arise from the close association of ethics with biology can be initiated, which goes far beyond the purely historical interest.