FFW (5 min; 10 sentences): Are we, as humans, capable of transcending aggression?
Overview
In Civilization and its Discontents, Freud explores the tension between the individual’s desire for and striving toward happiness, and the requirements of civilization, which often stand in the way of the things that will lead to the individual’s happiness, chief among them, sex and the use of violence for selfish means. Complicating this tension, according to Freud, is the fact that human beings need civilization in order to avoid living in a chaotic world and to maintain personal security. Freud argues that man’s natural inclinations are hostile and aggressive, but that their equal need for self-preservation compels them to attempt to sublimate these inclinations. Considering this human bind allows Freud to also discuss the roles of religion and art within civilization, the types of love we are capable of, and the nature of Thanatos.
Historical Context
Admittedly, Civilization and its Discontents paints a bleak view of the possibilities for both the individual and civilization. In Freud’s view, human beings are caught, seemingly eternally, between a rock and a hard place. But the book itself provides so many opportunities for debate—about religion, which Freud considers a “mass delusion.” About the Arts, which are not something that anyone “would care to put . . . in the background as trivialities” but which are also “useless” and “with no practical value whatever.” About love. About suffering. About addiction. At its core, the book invites a debate about basic human nature—are we capable of transcending aggression? Is our core hostile and selfish?
These are all topics that present themselves in the text alone. Putting the text in its historical context (the fact that Freud was writing it after World War I and during the early rise of Hitler’s Germany), could lead to more specific and situated conversations about the impact of world events on the development of philosophy and art and, equally, ways philosophy and art can help make sense of disturbing contemporary events. The book is even a doorway into conversations about the nature of war itself.
Harkness Questions on Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (1930)
Chapter 1
How, according to Freud, do we come to realize that there are things outside of our selves (or ego)?
How does he use this idea to explain the "feelings" of religion?
What is the point of Freud's discussion of the archeology of Rome?
How does the survival of past states of mind and memory help him explain the "oceanic" feelings of religion?
So why does Freud think people "need" religion?
Chapter 2
What does Freud mean when he says that ordinary people's understanding of religion is "infantile"?
What does Freud say about how the need for religion has been discussed in the past?
What does Freud mean by "the pleasure-principle"? How does this relate to the idea of "happiness"?
What does he mean by "libido-displacement" and what does this have to do with the pleasure principle? What does this have to do with art and culture? Religion? Love?
What is Freud's main point in this chapter?
Chapter 3
What does Freud consider the three sources of human suffering?
Why does Freud say that civilization has been a cause of human misery? Why is modern man hostile to civilization?
What does Freud mean by culture? What does he consider achievements of culture and why?
Why do these achievements not bring happiness?
Why does civilization also require beauty, cleanliness, and order?
Why does Freud say that individual liberty is not a benefit of culture?
Why does Freud say that we should not confuse civilization with progress towards perfection?
How does Freud link the idea of libidinal sublimation {displacement-see above} to civilized activities?
Chapter 4
Describe the "primitive family." Why was it not civilized?
How does Freud explain the evolution of the first laws (totems)?
How does Freud use the need for physical love (eroticism) to explain the emergence of culture?
How does "inhibited" love (friendliness) bind society together?
Why is there a rift (a contradiction) between love and culture? The family and society?
Why does Freud say that women become antithetical to culture?
Why must culture set restrictions upon sexual life? What is the result?
Chapter 5
How does Freud explain the conflict between sexuality and civilization?
Why does Freud have difficulty with the proposition "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"?
Why are we inclined towards aggression, and how does this require us to be cultured?
What does Freud mean by saying that "Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another"?
What is Freud's criticism of Communism?
Why does Freud say that "civilization requires sacrifices"? and how does this help explain why civilized man is unhappy?
Chapter 6
How does Freud use the idea that hunger and love make the world go round to derive the idea of a "death instinct"?
How does Freud derive from the idea of a death instinct the idea that a tendency towards aggression is innate and instinctual?
How does this chapter help Freud explain "the riddle" of the evolution of culture?
Chapter 7
What question is Freud trying to answer in this chapter?
How does Freud define "guilt," and where does guilt come from?
Why does he say that "bad conscience" is the dread of loosing love?
What does he mean by super-ego, and how and why does it create guilt? What about the dread of authority? (He goes over these issues twice, so bear with him.)
What does Freud mean by saying that man's guilt goes back to the murder of the father?
Why does Freud consider it a necessary conclusion that civilization brings the intensification of the felling of guilt?
Chapter 8
Why does Freud consider the sense of guilt the most important problem in the evolution of culture? What is the price of progress? Why?
Why, according to this chapter, has civilization led to greater aggression?
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Essay Prompts (choose ONE; must use direct quotes from text, do not use outside sources)
1) Freud proposes a radical reevaluation of the value of culture and civilization. Instead of representing a pact or contract that provides human beings with security, he regards civilization as one of our greatest sources of unhappiness, the "discontent" he at one point designates as "cultural frustration." How can one explain (psychologically) this purported hostility to civilization? Can you think of examples that speak for or against Freud's thesis?
2) In Civilization Freud makes a sustained argument for the role of "guilt" in our psychic lives, and he goes to great pains to distinguish "guilt" from "remorse." What is the basis of this distinction? In other words, how is remorse different from guilt? And why is it that guilt, or guilty feelings, play such a major role in our psychic lives?
3) Freud is known for his emphasis—some might say exaggerated emphasis—on sexual and erotic impulses in our psychic lives. But in Civilization he moves off in a very different direction, suggesting that we are driven not only by erotic impulses, but also by aggressive instincts, which he associates with "Thanatos," or the death drive. How can we explain this dramatic shift of direction in his theory? Do you think this revision makes the position of Freudian psychoanalysis seem more plausible? Or are you inclined to reject the idea of an aggressive (death) instinct?
4) In Civilization Freud theorizes that the origin of social bonding derives from the conspiracy of the band of brothers against the dominance and tyranny of the primitive father. The brothers join forces—renounce their instinctual hostilities—in order to pool their energies against the all-powerful father. Draw out some of the implication of this theory for the nature of "civilization" and human social interactions. Does this theory have analogues in other Freudian theories we have become acquainted with?
5) In Civilization Freud revisits the notion of the pleasure principle and provides an expanded theory of how it operates. In this context he discusses the so-called "palliative methods" that help us deal with the pains inherent in life. He places these in 3 categories: deflections; substitute satisfactions; intoxication. What might be examples for each of these categories? Which strategies hold out the most promise for providing long-term increments of pleasure, or for building the strongest barriers against displeasure?
6) Freud presents arguments in Civilization both against the Christian doctrine of "Love thy neighbor" and against what he views as the psychologically naïve position of communism. Can one defend the hypothesis that Freudian theory provides a psychological justification for the dog-eat-dog, radically competitive world of modern capitalism? What speaks for or against this hypothesis?
Id, Ego & Superego
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