Destruction as the Cause of Becoming (1912)

In her seminal essay of 1912, “Destruction as the Cause of Becoming,” Spielrein draws on a great variety of sources and traditions, including literature and mythology, while trying to demonstrate that, “in accord with the biological evidence, the reproductive instinct consists, also on a psychological level, of two antagonistic components, and therefore is simultaneously a creative and a destructive instinct.”