The Freudian Revolution Sigmund Freud 1856 1939 Like

The Freudian Revolution

Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939) • Like Marx, a determinist • People determined by their instincts – Life instinct: sex (libido) – Death instinct: aggression, self-destruction

Freud: the Psyche • Id: the raw instincts • Ego: the manager of the id that sublimates the instincts • Superego: the “conscience” that manages the ego according to social standards and morality

Sublimation vs. Repression • Sublimation=positive redirection/ modification of instincts • Repression: When an instinct is not sublimated but frustrated. The instinct does not go away but takes the form of a neurotic symptom

Civilization and its Discontents (1930) • Causes of suffering – Body – External world – Relations with others

Freud: methods to avoid suffering: • • • Voluntary isolation Human community Intoxication Displacements of libido (sublimation) Delusion: alternative reality Mass delusion=religion

Freud: Why does civilization bring discontent? • Civilization is the result of human’s sublimating their instincts • However, civilization demands too much: civilization can repress people and make them neurotic • Civilization 1) makes people discontented; 2) is fighting a losing battle against aggression

Freud & the arts • Liberate the unconscious mind—an escape from “civilization” • Stream of consciousness (literature) – Proust, Joyce, Faulkner • Surrealism (literature & visual arts) – Kafka – Miro, Klee, Dali, Kahlo, Magritte

Carl Jung (1875 -1961) • Collective unconscious – Not personal, but shared by human beings in general – Encoded as archetypes: basic images, plot patterns, or character types reflecting the deep psychological needs of human beings, found in folklore, religious texts, & literature • E. g. , the child god, the hero, the wise old man (See Fiero 846)