ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud' work consists in an attempt to bring to light the ravages caused by "renouncing" the drives. According to him, it is precisely the discontents of desire that lead to the discontents in civilization. From 1917 onwards, Freud places more and more of an accent on the conflict of the drives, describing the ego as their arbitrator, or even their victim, rather than as one of the terms figuring in the conflict. He is clearly opposed to a sexological interpretation of the analytic ethic such as the one proposed by Wilhelm Reich. Perhaps the ego's "weakness" in failing to ensure an impossible harmony would justify the analyst's attempt to establish a "contract" with it. Freud's use of neutrality in his technical papers or in his discussion of transference love, its only possible meaning is that the analyst should not favour one element in an unconscious conflict over another.
