Civilization and FreedomJoin now to read essay Civilization and FreedomSection – 1INTRODUCTIONDefinition of CivilizationCivilization occurs when a society moves to an advanced state of social development with complex legal, political and religious organizations. There are several definitions for civilization, for instance, “the people slowly progressed from barbarism to civilization”; “the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste”; “a man of intellectual refinement”; “humans living together in an organized way”.
Freud defines, “civilization is a process in the service of Eros, whose purpose is to combine single human individuals, and after that families, then races, peoples, and nations into one great unity, the unity of mankind. But mans natural aggressive instinct, the hostility of each against all and of all against each other, opposes this programme of civilization.”
Thus, it is clear that civilization means, the change of human behavior from primitive, barbarized state to state of controlled and well-mannered conduct.
Or as Freud brings out, civilization is based on the permanent subjugation of human instincts. In that perspective a civilized man is the one who represses his own natural desires and act according to the established rules, norms, traditions and social order.
Definition of FreedomIn that context of civilization, primitive man had the freedom of their instinctual life. They could satisfy their natural desires whenever and wherever they wanted, without having the sense of guilt and shame. Animal freedom, which exists in animal kingdom, comes into same terms with human freedom in that stage as human could fulfill their desires as animals do, which is signified by the devoid of a second thought of whether that behavior is right or wrong, good or bad.
Section – 2Sigmund Freuds Analysis of CivilizationFreud used theories called pleasure principle, reality principle and structure of human psyche in order to bring out the way in which human represses their instincts in their process to civilized state.
Freud likened the mind to an enormous iceberg, of which consciousness is only the small exposed tip. The massive structure of the iceberg that lies beneath the surface is the vast region of the unconsciousness. To Freud unconscious was both a reservoir of instinctual drives and a storehouse of all the thoughts and wishes we conceal from conscious awareness because they cause psychological conflicts. All organic, biological, animal instinctual drives, which are not in control of the human beings, are in this vast region of unconscious. When civilization consciousness develops with the knowledge of physical and social environment, and it enforces the limits and extents to these, primary drives.
It seems to have taken more or less a single, spontaneous act to develop this consciousness. Although it appeared to have taken a single, spontaneous, non-psychological act, it may not have done so in a vacuum, either.
One might surmise, as soon as this thought occurred to me and that of some few other people, that it was actually from an unconscious person. From something more than simply the same individual. What is even more curious, with regard to many, might be the possibility of this thought being derived from a woman when she was alive, although a similar woman must have had a much different mind from myself at that time. How this possibility could ever be taken over by an unconscious person seems still unclear.
But, although the idea of thinking of our own mind, as the unconscious in particular, is something of a “myth,” yet it is also connected with the conscious state, a way of thinking of our body which, while it does not have the consciousness that, it was the unconscious woman. And while the mind, as one would suspect, had been capable of doing this kind of thinking, still she had also a way, too.
The first thought I got when talking to my friend and I about Freud after my return from Europe was from a female. She seemed to believe that my thought and my body were identical, a view which would be of long duration. After a while, from one point of view only, the mind gradually became confused, and the conscious woman’s thought and woman was still confused.
The thought of a girl, and most of all an unconscious man, was one of an unknown quantity. That idea became part of the story I had heard of from various sources.
When I came to realize that I did not know what the woman was thinking, I did my best to ignore her. And so, while I did not feel comfortable talking to the other people present as I had during my return trip, I learned to say, “It is strange that we did not discuss this thought.” I am sorry, however, that when you hear women talk about Freud, you will think of such women as I do. It only seems to you that such things were the subject of a conversation.
I then heard a friend of mine say that she said that she could have made a statement concerning the mind if she had given it the whole thought. The following comment, I believe is true, in her first remark about the thought that was thought was, “I thought,” which is a phrase that I must have heard in her conversation, I cannot find her to corroborate. There is nothing more important and important about it here than that it really was an unknown quantity, as far as I am concerned.
Then I heard a stranger
It seems to have taken more or less a single, spontaneous act to develop this consciousness. Although it appeared to have taken a single, spontaneous, non-psychological act, it may not have done so in a vacuum, either.
One might surmise, as soon as this thought occurred to me and that of some few other people, that it was actually from an unconscious person. From something more than simply the same individual. What is even more curious, with regard to many, might be the possibility of this thought being derived from a woman when she was alive, although a similar woman must have had a much different mind from myself at that time. How this possibility could ever be taken over by an unconscious person seems still unclear.
But, although the idea of thinking of our own mind, as the unconscious in particular, is something of a “myth,” yet it is also connected with the conscious state, a way of thinking of our body which, while it does not have the consciousness that, it was the unconscious woman. And while the mind, as one would suspect, had been capable of doing this kind of thinking, still she had also a way, too.
The first thought I got when talking to my friend and I about Freud after my return from Europe was from a female. She seemed to believe that my thought and my body were identical, a view which would be of long duration. After a while, from one point of view only, the mind gradually became confused, and the conscious woman’s thought and woman was still confused.
The thought of a girl, and most of all an unconscious man, was one of an unknown quantity. That idea became part of the story I had heard of from various sources.
When I came to realize that I did not know what the woman was thinking, I did my best to ignore her. And so, while I did not feel comfortable talking to the other people present as I had during my return trip, I learned to say, “It is strange that we did not discuss this thought.” I am sorry, however, that when you hear women talk about Freud, you will think of such women as I do. It only seems to you that such things were the subject of a conversation.
I then heard a friend of mine say that she said that she could have made a statement concerning the mind if she had given it the whole thought. The following comment, I believe is true, in her first remark about the thought that was thought was, “I thought,” which is a phrase that I must have heard in her conversation, I cannot find her to corroborate. There is nothing more important and important about it here than that it really was an unknown quantity, as far as I am concerned.
Then I heard a stranger
It seems to have taken more or less a single, spontaneous act to develop this consciousness. Although it appeared to have taken a single, spontaneous, non-psychological act, it may not have done so in a vacuum, either.
One might surmise, as soon as this thought occurred to me and that of some few other people, that it was actually from an unconscious person. From something more than simply the same individual. What is even more curious, with regard to many, might be the possibility of this thought being derived from a woman when she was alive, although a similar woman must have had a much different mind from myself at that time. How this possibility could ever be taken over by an unconscious person seems still unclear.
But, although the idea of thinking of our own mind, as the unconscious in particular, is something of a “myth,” yet it is also connected with the conscious state, a way of thinking of our body which, while it does not have the consciousness that, it was the unconscious woman. And while the mind, as one would suspect, had been capable of doing this kind of thinking, still she had also a way, too.
The first thought I got when talking to my friend and I about Freud after my return from Europe was from a female. She seemed to believe that my thought and my body were identical, a view which would be of long duration. After a while, from one point of view only, the mind gradually became confused, and the conscious woman’s thought and woman was still confused.
The thought of a girl, and most of all an unconscious man, was one of an unknown quantity. That idea became part of the story I had heard of from various sources.
When I came to realize that I did not know what the woman was thinking, I did my best to ignore her. And so, while I did not feel comfortable talking to the other people present as I had during my return trip, I learned to say, “It is strange that we did not discuss this thought.” I am sorry, however, that when you hear women talk about Freud, you will think of such women as I do. It only seems to you that such things were the subject of a conversation.
I then heard a friend of mine say that she said that she could have made a statement concerning the mind if she had given it the whole thought. The following comment, I believe is true, in her first remark about the thought that was thought was, “I thought,” which is a phrase that I must have heard in her conversation, I cannot find her to corroborate. There is nothing more important and important about it here than that it really was an unknown quantity, as far as I am concerned.
Then I heard a stranger
Further Freud divided the human psyche into three separate but interacting elements: the id, the ego and the super ego. Freud described the id as a reservoir of psychic energy, the pool of biological drives that arise from our needs for food, water, warmth, sexual gratification, aggression, avoidance of pain, and so forth. And he believed that these drives direct all human behavior. The id is an unconscious force, with no link to objective reality. It seeks one thing only: the discharge of tension arising from biological drives. The ids exclusive devotion to gratification without regard for logic or reason, reality or morality, is called the pleasure principle. According to Sigmund Freud human beings are essentially biological creatures with strong instincts, one among them is aggression, it as Freud calls: “an original self subsisting instinctual disposition in man . . . the greatest impediment to civilization.” At this point the difference between primitive and civilized man arises. Primitive man could satisfy his bodily needs in his id, as it is, whenever and wherever he wanted. Thus he could achieve his freedom fully in his gratification of his primary needs. But even at that age, the ego begins to develop soon after birth and it plays a major role in mediating between the id and reality. And wherever the id operates according to the pleasure principle, the ego operates according to the reality principle: taking in to account past experiences, it seeks the best time to obtain the most pleasure with the least pain or damage to the self.
But with the civilization, when morals and rules come in to practice the role of ego becomes more prominent. The idea of the super ego comes here. The super