ABSTRACT
One of the cardinal changes in psycho-analytical theory that Fairbairn has put forward is that libido is not pleasure seeking: it is object seeking. This chapter proposes to start by examining the meaning of the word 'libido'. In order to do so, we must ask what the concept was that Freud denoted by introducing this new term in the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality and what has happened to this term during the fifty years of development since its introduction. To discuss Freud's clinical experiences in the field of sexuality he needed a term denoting the intensity factor of all sexual strivings, and as he could not find a proper word for this in the German language he borrowed 'libido' from the Latin. In a way it is a pity that the English translators disregarded 'lust' for the translation of libido.
