Sigmund Freud is a man whose ideas tried to explain everything about the whole world. Freud lived in Austria throughout most of his life, but moved to London in the last few years to escape the ever-growing reign of the Nazi's as even though he was an atheist, there was Jewish routes in his family and needed to escape the worst. Freud died in London on 23 September 1939 and was a worldwide celebrity, a cocaine addict and would be remembered most as being deeply ambitious.
Freud was seen as a sexual renegade as rejected the previous idea's of seeing human beings as noble creatures. His ideas would challenge and be a direct attack against the enlightenment and felt that humans were not rational in there thought processes. Instead he believed that at the centre of our thoughts is a deep pessimism. These ideas Freud felt you could think were similar to the compositions of Rembrandt as there is little light, but they are full of darkness and sinister motives. These visions were Freud's dark vision of humanity.
This reflects the true meaning behind Modernism, which is out with the old and in with the Freudian way of thinking. Freud's way of thinking was his theory of Pyschoanalysis and it can not be disputed that it's influence on modern society is staggering. We will come back to this theory later on, first we must get ready to rumble in tonight's boxing match between Sigmund Freud and Plato.
Freud followed Plato' ideas of a tripartite self. Plato felt our conscious and sub-concious thoughts were made up of reason, spirit and desire. Plato also believed that our reason could rule over any of our thoughts, but Freud thought that reasons was the weakest element of Plato's tripartite self as humans are irrational. Freud also disagreed that we are drive be desires that are outside of our mind and beyond our control.
Now that is a first round knockout for Sigmund Freud, but we have a new challenger coming into the HCJ rumble ring and that is the German Karl Marx. Marx again used the ideas of a tripartite self, but he felt that it's elements consisted of natural, alienated and species self. Freud again rejected this idea as it was simply too idealists and he felt that our deepest needs are agression. This is where Freud's theory of psychoanalysis takes hold as he feels that humans discover the truth about themselves when we are unconscious and we find out thing's we do not know about ourselves.
Freud see the reality of human nature as a combination of pain and suffering with the most painful act a human has to do is the day to day interacting with other human beings. This brings me to Freud's tripartite self and the three elements that makes up the Freudian Personality:
ID: The first part of the personality is made up of our animalistic nature aimed at maximising pleasure and minimising pain. This can be reflecting in our sexual lusts for other people and the aggression we wish to use on the rest of the world and reflects our dominant personality, but this is our unconscious thoughts.
Ego: This is the reality principle and least powerful part of the personality. It is our "voice of reason" and stops us doing the things that our ID wants use to do. It is the mediation between our dreams and reality and ensure our common-sense acts to stop any of our aggression from being released.
Super-Ego: The final part of the personality, which is the internalised rules of parents or society. It is the voice in your head, which is irrational. It will strive for perfection and will want to complete near-impossible tasks or accomplishments. This is the part of the personality, which is developed after we are born through our social interactions. This is the picture of our ideal self, which will strive for perfection, but punish us with guilt.
This is the picture of the personality, but the main problem with this is the conflict, which will divide within ourselves.
Freud believes that the pain we suffers throughout our lives can we described in three types:
1. Our own decaying body as we grow older our body is gradually wearing away.
2. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, which is the bad luck we may suffer, which makes us feel rejected and worthless.
3. The great pain of all is the interaction we have with other people.
Freud explains how there are answers in the analysis of avoiding pain, but this iS not open to everyone as it is the masses who will continue on their ever destructive path. He also outlines that any form of copying mechanism is not recommended. These defence mechanisms include:
* Chemical Solution: Intoxication (getting drunk), however this release is only temporary and can result in either greater pain when you wake up.
* Isolation: Closing your door and isolating yourself from the outside world. Again this release is only temporary and Freud believed this would only work for a few people.
* Sublimation:: Finding socially acceptable realised for your aggression e.g. sport.
Freud felt that civilisation was acting as a collective supergroup in imposing moral limits and restrictions on our ID. This battle can turn into repression of our defence mechanisms and bring our most painful memories to the surface of our conscious.
These problems are related sublimation and the following others:
* Displacement: Turning shameful thoughts into something else
* Projections: Sending negatives thoughts and feelings onto someone else. E.G starting a fight on a Saturday night in Southampton.
* Rationalisation: Returning to an earlier stage of development (becoming a child again in a Fetal position for comfort)
Freud found that the key to psychoanalysis is that people will find something from someone and that there is a way to find out and deal directly what the problem is with a person through their ID. This is through hypnosis, which is a pressure method associated with dreams. The method is aimed at putting the ego to sleep and brining the ID to the surface and showing it's true intentions. Through this Freud believed it would be impossible to eliminate aggression from anyone.
There are many people that have attacked the methods of Sigmund Freud. Scientists believe that they have proved that Freud's method were wrong as they were so vague. They had not been proved or even tested as it is impossible to tell if someone truly hates and wants to kill their own mother. It shows there is no legitimate proof that psychoanalysis works.
Freud's theories have also been the subject of constant revision. It is believed that Freud did not discover the unconscious and that it was discovered in the 19th Century in academic circles. Schopenhauer believed that man is a irrational being guided by internal forces. But, he also considered that our intellect is as a constant struggle to control our sexual urges.
The main opponent to Sigmund Frued's theories came from Reich who was the complete opposite to Freud. Reich believed that our unconscious forces inside our mind were really good and that they were suppressed by society. Much like Freud, Reich was a sexual radical and believed in unparalleled sexual pleasures is the ultimate measure of human happiness.
Reich again used the tripartite self and felt that our personality could be seen on three different levels:
* The first level or surface level is our polite side and positive nature to society and others.
* The second level is cruel and mean and the complete opposite to the surface level where our aggression shines through.
* The third and final level of our personality is the honest, loving side, which Reich felt was hidden to almost everyone in society and is not taken into account.
There is a student slogan, which is "Their is a policeman inside our head, he must be destroyed." Well if I was to follow Sigmund Freud's method I would kill the policeman and have sex with the next attractive female I laid my eyes upon. However, we will come back to reality and realise that in the real world our aggression is not the centre of our conscious, it is only a small part of our entire personality.
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