Kimberly Parra Stevenson 81A January 10th, 2011 Road Map: Civilization and Its DiscontentsSigmund Freud People

e tend to be shallow o Use wealth, power to measure worth o Do not know what is true value Few people that others openly admire o Are minority compared to masses o Majority appreciates them Ex: celebrities? Many men have feeling of sensation of eternity o Source of energy/feeling that helps fuel religion o Feeling = source of religion So can call oneself religious even if not in organized religions o it is a feeling of indissoluble bond, of being one with the external world as a whole 25 Man is most certain of Egothe feeling of ourself o Autonomous and unitarynot influenced by external Actually a faade o One state where ego confuses external with internallove a man who is in love declares that I and You are one & is prepared to behave as if it were a fact 27 When man is a child/infanthe cannot determine external from internal o Learn to differentiate based on experienced Pain o Pain and unpleasure give incentive to separate external from internal/ego o through deliberate direction of ones sensory activities & through suitable muscular action, one can differentiate between what is internal and what is external 28 If sources are external, then we cannot be unhappy about them It is possible for people to mix external PLUS the mature kind of like evolution o Happens when one part of attitude is unchanged while the other develops/evolves Forgetting does not mean the destruction of a memory, but rather, it can be brought to light o the same space cannot have two different contents 33 Study of preservation of mind is interesting comparison to rome

o Mind cannot be compared to a city because the preservation of a city involves demolishing, while mind cannot be destroyed o Mind cannot be compared to body because body undergoes too many physical changes In mind, all past changes are evident/there are still traces of change what is past in mental life may be preserved & is not necessarily destroyed 35 o Rule, not exception o Because of this rule, oceanic/religious feeling exists in most people o Freud does not agree with claimfeeling can only be a source of energy is it shows a need Infant does not have religious needs thus making feeling invalidonly need child has is fathers protection oceanic feeling became connected to religion later on o First attempt at consolidation Turn to religioun because we are helpless Ch 2 Freud noticed only the understanding of religion, not the deeper meaning o Promises man an explanation to world & give him a meaning in afterlife Humans see God as an enormous father o Only one that would understand children Freud = against religion o cannot but see that this religion is not tenable, nevertheless defend it piece by piece 40 Religion and acheivments can either replace or represent each other meaning one can overshadow or compliment the other Three auxiliary constructions o Powerful deflectionsmake light of misery o Substitutive satisfactionsdiminish it o Intoxicating substancesmake us insensitive to it Deflections = suicide Substitutive = art Intoxicating = changes chemistryreligion Religion = enticing because it offers answer to human life purpose o Mans true purpose is to be happyfeel intense pleasure what decides the purpose of life is simply the programme of the pleasure principle 43 o Pleasure defines purpose? We define happiness as fulfilling needs that we hold to high regard If anything that produces happiness is prolonged, it only provides contentment o We are made that we can get intense enjoyment not from state of things o Our happiness is restricted by our constitution

Unhappiness is easier to come by: o From our own body o External world o Relationshurts the most Suffering is necessary because having enjoyment before caustion = own consequences o Way to avoid getting hurt of relations = isolation o Avoid hurt of external = turn from it o Use science = both helps you and humanity Most effective way to avoid pain = chemical substancesdrugs o Desire to free from external world Extreme unhappiness happens when external world does not meet our needs Untamed happiness is more instinctual and intense than tamed happiness Can alter sex drive in order to fend unhappiness o Does not work if source of unhappiness is own body o Shows independence from external world Art can withdraw individuals from the external world o However, does not help with real misery Isolation from the world assumes happiness because there is no suffering in reality o Isolation because reality is too strong for themmake own world o Can show paranoia? Love is one way of living that causes men to both be happy and suffer o Independent of fate Kinds of love: o Sexual loveone of most intense experiences Love causes us the most sufferingit is that we are never so defenceless against suffering as when we have lost our loved object or its love 52 o Even though we suffer, we see the value in love as a means to happiness People seek happiness in the enjoyment of beauty o Offers almost no protection from suffering, but can compensate o No obvious use, but gives an intoxicating feeling Enjoyment of beauty has a sort of sexual connotationimpulsive o beauty and attraction are originally attributes of the sexual object 53 o Beauty=secondary sexual meaning Happiness can depend on a persons libido o Also depends on how much satisfaction he gets from external world World wisdom tells humans not to place happiness in one sole object Someone who has not had sex will find it hard to find happiness? o Will lead to insanity religion can prevent neurosis

Ch 3. Our society can cause us unhappiness o We are not satisfied with our civilization = root of unhappiness o People become neurotic because he cannot tolerate the amount of frustration which society imposes on him 59 Questions what the point of living a long life is if there is no joy Happiness is an opinion o Up to the person to decide to be happy When suffering majorly, mind protects itself. First acts of civilization involved tools; control over fire Man has been able to accomplish a lot because of sciencealmost fairytale like o Has kind of become a prosthetic God o Present day man does not feel happy in godlike manner Most everything in civilization is done for the benefit of man o Ex. Domestic animals, etc. Civilization values beauty even though it is useless o Humans judge based on cleanliness o Expect order from nature Beauty, cleanliness, and order are expected from civilizationheld in high regard o Meanwhile, humans are careless Civilization must also have esteem and encouragement for mans intellect o Intellectual, artistic, and scientific achievements Man deems perfection to be what is closest to civilizations norms Social relationships between humans are the most important part of society o Hard to stay civilized in general o Relationships are based on the will of the individualimpulsive Replacing the power of individual with community is step towards civilization Requirements of civilization: o Justiceno laws broken by individuals Individual groups not favored Sacrifices brute forceeveryone MUST follow o Urge for freedom Liberty most given when no civilization Man will always defend his liberty over the liberty of a group o Common feeling Development of civilization is similar to development of libido Sublimation of instinctsuppressing instinctskey to civilization o Hard to overlook that civilization is based on not acting on instincts

Ch 4 Working made social relationships essential o Group is stronger than one individual Community life needed: o 1. Workexternal necessity o 2. Loveman unwilling to separate from sexual object Love and necessity needed for civilization Woman makes mans job in civilization harder o Woman is hostile towards civilization Civilization restricts sexual desires Sexuality must develop in childhood in order to fully establish in adulthood Pressures of civilization restrict man to only one sexual partneraccording to freud, that is impossible

Ch 5 Neurotic people cannot handle sexual limitations Love can make man happy without needing any other external stimuli Not possible to love thy neighbor as the bible says because he is a stranger and love is a sign of preferring someoneone does not prefer a stranger o Show love when they show love too o Counters original nature of man Men are not made to lovethey are made to be aggressive. o Neighbor is not only friend, but enemytherefore cannot love Communists believe that aggressiveness comes from private property o Freud says that theory is not trueonly makes more aggressive o Sexual desire/objects would cause more aggressive behavior Man unhappy in society because it restricts sexuality AND aggression In order to get security man sacrifices happiness

Ch 6

Hunger and love are what moves the world104 Libido and ego are linked togethernarcissism The death instinctdestruction o Love and destruction; inward destruction and sexuality o The nature of evilhumans are naturally aggressive and corrupt Civilization governed by loveErossexual love o Forms families, etcto one unity

o Aggressive instinct opposes this Evolution of civilizationstruggle between Eros and Death o Love and evil

Ch 7 Civilization thrives on guilt People feel guilty if they have the intention of doing something against socirtys norm What is bad can be good for the ego o Extraneous presence over what is good and bad Fear of loss of love People do bad things as long as they cannot get caught o Fear of being blamed Restricting instincts causes frustrations/angeracting upon them relieves frustration Man punishes himself for guilt with abstaining o Ex. Israelites making 10 commandments Origin of guilt: o Fear of authoritycurbing instincts o Fear of super egopunishing for guilt Consciencesuperegois the foundation for renouncing instincts Conscience forms through the repression of anger o Sense of guilt is expression of the conflict due to ambivalence127

Ch 8 Sense of guilt is the most important problem in development of society o Price we pay for development is happiness Neurosis allows people to not feel guilt Guilt is nothing but anxety/fear os super ego Religion claim to redeem man from guiltsin o This is why religion is so attractive to man Super ego can differentiate between aggression intended and aggression carried out guilt or remorse We can attribute two sources of aggression to the superegoboth work in unison Two classes of instincts do not appear in true form Humans develop: o Urge towards happiness o Union with others Ethics=therapeutic event

Kimberly Parra Stevenson 81A Professor Abbink January 12th, 2012

How does Freud define civilization? According to him, what good is civilization? What aspects of civilization keep humans from being happy? According to Freud, beauty, cleanliness and order obviously occupy a special position among the requirements of civilization (Freud 69). He also states that for civilization to function there needs to be justice, a common feeling, and an urge of freedom from the people who inhabit that civilization. However, no featureseems to better characterize civilization than its [] encouragement of mans higher mental activities (Freud 69). What Freud means by this is that, although civilization needs superficial prerequisites, its main definition is to foster the intellect of humanssuch as encouraging science and art. A civilization is necessary to man because it sets into place social normsit is what makes it possible for higher psychical activities [] to play an important part in civilized life (Freud 74). These social norms allow humans to interact with one another, even allowing humans to love rather than be instinctually aggressive. Not only does civilization give humans these grounds to interact, but it also provides a sense of protection. However, this protection comes with sacrifices. By immersing themselves in a civilization and developing that civilization, humans lose their freedom. They are forced to repress their instinctssuch as sexual desires and aggressionand instead act out of kindness. This makes humans even more internally aggressive and develops their superego, which then causes them to punish themselves for bad actions or bad thoughts through guilt and remorse. With those sacrifices, humans immersed in civilization will never be truly happy.

Kimberly Parra Stevenson 81A Professor Abbink January 12, 2012

Why does Freud think it is impossible to keep the two commandments love thine neighbor as thyself and love thine enemy? Do you agree? In his book, Freud establishes that men are not gentile creatures who want to be loved but rather that humans have a powerful share of aggressiveness (Freud 94). Freud uses this thinking to prove that it is impossible to keep the two commandments Thou shalt love thy neighbos as thyself and Love thine enemies. He argues that it is impossible to keep those commandments for various reasons. First, humans rationalize not loving their neighbor because a neighbor is often considered a stranger and it would be an injustice to [family] if [they] put a stranger on par with them.(Freud 92)meaning it would devalue the meaning of love if humans loved a stranger as much as they loved themselves or their family. Secondly, people in general tend to believe that if [they] love someone, he must deserve it in some way (Freud 91). This means that because a neighbor has not done something to prove their worth, a man cannot love their neighbor, and because an enemy has done them wrong, they cannot love their enemy. Lastly, and most importantly, loving is not in the nature of a man. The natural state of a man is to be aggressive and defend themselves against enemiespeople that can harm you. Because of this, it is impossible to love either a neighbor or an enemy because one can be seen as a threat, while the other has already proven themselves to be a threat.