life instinct

British  

noun

1. psychoanal the instinct for reproduction and self-preservation

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Example Sentences

Trump in his defeat is also an example and reminder of Sigmund Freud's theories about the life instinct and the death instinct.

From Salon

Instead of a man he gives us a mere philosopher, a man, that is, not living with his country's life, instinct with the heart and feeling of humanity, inspired by art and religion, but a being set apart and exalted above his fellows,—charged no doubt in theory with the duty of saving them, of acting vicariously as the mediator between them and the absolute truth—but really tending more and more to seclude himself on the edita templa of the world, on the high-towers of speculation.

From Project Gutenberg

In our sophisticated modern life instinct will often fail entirely to fulfill these purposes.

From Project Gutenberg

Later, Freud formulated his famed "death instinct," into which suicide fitted neatly as death's triumph over the life instinct.

From Time Magazine Archive

There is more than one life instinct; some examples are eating, drinking, and sex.

From Time Magazine Archive