HCJ Lecture 2 Notes - Sigmund Freud

This week I am writing the seminar paper about Freud so I will post these notes from the lecture Brian gave about Freud before posting my seminar paper later in the week.

Overview of Freud:

• Born in Vienna 1856.
• Died in London 1939.
• Deeply ambitious.
• Psychoanalyst - tried to explain everything.
• Controversial/Subject to criticism.
• Lived in repressed times - his ideas challenged this and challenged the ideas of the Enlightenment - alternative to rationality.
• Believed we cannot understand the universe, it is impossible.
• The centre of Freud's thoughts was pessimism.
• His theories are a dark vision of humanity.

Attack on Plato:

• He followed Plato's ideas of the tripartite self: Reason, Spirit and Desire.
• He disagreed with Plato's belief that Reason can overrule the other two.
• Freud believed that Reason is the weakest part of a person because people are irrational.

Attack on Marx

• Marx also believed in the idea of a tripartite self: Natural, Species and Alienated.
• Marx believed in the teleological development of humanity; that we are all moving towards something, which he believed to be Communism. 
• Freud thought this was too idealistic because deep down we are all aggressive and that is the basic level that drives us on. He thought we are fundamentally limited so can never develop.
• Ultimately our desire is to hurt people and eventually seek our own destruction.
• Marx believed that is we change the systems in out society then things will get better. Freud disputed this claiming that people are the system - we create a system that is ultimately bad for each other because deep down we enjoy to see others suffer.

Freud had the confidence to dismiss Plato and Marx because he believed he discovered psychoanalysis.

The Freudian Personality:

Freud believed that the human personality consists of three parts:

1. ID: This is the animal part of our personality, our basic desires and instincts, or as Freud described it; 'a cauldron of seething expectations'. The ID is a reservoir of our unconscious present from birth. This is the dominant personality.
2. Ego: This is the reality principle, our conscious self, our reason and common sense. This is the weakest of the three personalities. The Ego is constantly battling with the ID. 
3. Superego: This is the morality principle, the socialised part of our personality, the internalised rules from our parents, society, etc. This sets an impossible standard of perfection and then punishes us with guilt when we do not reach expectations. The Superego is also in constant battle with the ID. Freud believed that civilisation is a collective superego imposing moral limits on the ID.

Freud believed that everything in live is pain, classifiable in these three ways:

1. Our own decaying bodies and eventual death
2. The things which happen to us throughout life
3. Interaction with other people - Freud believed this was the worst pain of all

Freud thought that the solution to dealing with all the pain in life is through analysis to control the ID and make the Ego stronger. Although he accepted that psychoanalysis is not an option available to everyone, so also suggested temporary coping mechanism for those who could not have psychoanalysis.

Coping Mechanisms:

1. Intoxication
2. Isolation
3. Sublimation

These coping mechanisms will only give temporary, mild satisfaction because the ID wants total satisfaction.

Freud said that the key to understanding and controlling the ID is through the interpretation of dreams and hypnosis. He explained that when we are asleep the Ego, our conscious self, also sleeps, so that the ID is able to run free through our dreams revealing our true desires.

Criticisms of Freud:

• Freud did not discover or prove the existence of the unconscious he only made it mainstream. Many before him discussed the idea of the unconscious self. for example Shopenhauer believed man was irrational, guided by internal forces of which he is not aware.
• Falsifiability - there is no way to validate Freud's theory of psychoanalysis. For example, if Freud was to say to someone "you had that dream because you hate your mother" there is no way for the dreamer to validate that Freud has revealed a repressed desire.

Reich:

Reich was a disciple of Freud but ultimately disagreed with parts of Freud's theory. For example, Reich believed that the unconscious forces in the mind are good that it is their suppression by society that makes them dangerous. This differs to Freud who believed that the unconscious is dangerous and should be suppressed by the individual at all costs.

Reich believed in a tripartite self, but differed to Freud in what the personalities are:

• Polite personality - Surface Layer
• Cruel personality - Second Layer
• Honest/Loving personality - Core

Followers of Reich are encouraged to express feelings openly which is the opposite to Freud who taught people to repress everything.