Freud distinguishes tendency from function to resolve whether binding precedes the pleasure principle

Evidence

Let us make a sharper distinction than we have hitherto made between function and tendency. The pleasure principle, then, is a tendency operating in the service of a function whose business it is to free the mental apparatus entirely from excitation or to keep it as low as possible. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 4065

Categorization

• DEFINE: The function/tendency distinction is the key conceptual tool Freud uses to dissolve the apparent regress.