Fear of death is the ego relinquishing its narcissistic cathexis

Evidence

The double is the ego that is ready to leave the other, to go ahead into nothingness. In The Ego and the Id, Freud writes: “It would seem that the mechanism of the fear of death can only be that the ego relinquishes its narcissistic libidinal cathexis in a very large measure—that is, that it gives itself up, just as it gives up some external object in other cases in which it feels anxiety.” — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2706

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Freud’s The Ego and the Id and the psychoanalytic account of death anxiety — relevant to the ongoing Freud/Lacan contrast Malabou is drawing. — connects to: The psychoanalytic Unconscious speaks through coded symptoms about primordial fears of loss; Fear apprehends the self as a passive destructible object among external causes; Contemplating one’s death reveals oneself as the future prey of others.

Broader Connections

• Fear apprehends the self as a passive destructible object among external causes #expands (0.78)
• The psychoanalytic Unconscious speaks through coded symptoms about primordial fears of loss #expands (0.75)
• Contemplating one’s death reveals oneself as the future prey of others. #expands (0.75)