STUDY GUIDE: SIGMUND FREUDS CIVILIZATION & ITS DISCONTENTS GLOSSARY AND REVIEW SHEET, HU202, TEAM W, STOEHR

Terms to define from Freudian psychology (from lecture and class notes): Ego, super-ego, id, libido, repression, sublimation, oceanic feeling, pleasure vs. reality principles, Eros vs. Thanatos instincts, Oedipus complex, Electra complex. Names and terms to identify about fin de sicle Vienna (from lecture and class notes): Franz Joseph, Princess Elizabeth, Crown Prince Rudolf, Habsburg monarchy, Mayerling tragedy, Viennese Secession, Ringstrasse, Jugendstil, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Adolf Loos, Otto Wagner. KNOW THESE NAMES (SPECIFICALLY THE ARTISTS) ________________________________________________________________________ Relevant quotes for studying Freud: ... [P]sychology shall be recognized again as the queen of the sciences, for whose service and preparation the other sciences exist. For psychology is now again the path to the fundamental problems. (Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil) It is not by chance that psychoanalysis was born in Vienna and came of age there. In Freuds time, the cultural atmosphere in Vienna encouraged a fascination with both mental illness and sexual problems in a way unique in the Western world a fascination that extended throughout society, even into the imperial court which dominated Viennese social life. The origins of this unique cultural preoccupation can be traced to the history of the city itself, but most especially to the concerns and attitudes foremost in the minds of Viennas cultural elites just before and during the period in which Freud formed his revolutionary theories about our emotional life. (Bruno Bettelheim, Freuds Vienna) And now, I think, the meaning of the evolution of civilization is no longer obscure to us. It must present the struggle between Eros and Death, between the instinct of life and the instinct of destruction, as it works itself out in the human species. This struggle is what all life essential consists of, and the evolution of civilization may therefore be simply described as the struggle for life of the human species. (Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents) Psychoanalysis is the spiritual disease of which it claims to be the cure. (Karl Kraus)

Like Nietzsche, like the Great War and like James Joyce, his literary counterpart, Freud is an answer to the sickness of the nineteenth century. (Carl Gustav Jung, Sigmund Freud in His Historical Setting) _____________________________________________________________________________ _

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Study guide questions for Freuds Civilization and its Discontents: 1. Chapter I: a. What does Freud mean by oceanic feelings? How does Freud try to explain the origin/cause of oceanic feelings? Oceanic feelings is the sense of boundlessness and limitlessness (infantile narcissism.) It recalls the egotistical feeling in infancy of being the only one in the world (felt during breastfeeding). It is the preserved primitive-ego feeling. b. Explain Freuds metaphor of the Eternal City (Rome) when he discusses the preservation of primitive aspects of the mind or psyche (personality). When we are born we have primitive aspects of our personality (e.g. the oceanic feeling.) As we get older these feelings are buried (by society / civilization.) These feelings can be uncovered but it is the exception rather than the rule. The mind is similar to Rome because Rome (the eternal city) has (though ancient) ruins that still exist today. In our mind there are ruins of our primitive feelings that exist today. Freuds metaphor of the Eternal City is the metaphor for the subconscious and preservation of primitive emotions. Unlike the ruins of a city, all human experience is preserved, though it can be conscious, pre-conscious, or unconscious, all exists simultaneously, and ultimately the mind is unique in this. c. What is the original source of our religious needs, according to Freud? Derives from the helplessness of the infant, its need for protection by a stronger, more powerful force. Hence religions project their gods typically as father figures, who are allusions to the desire for such a protective figure 2. Chapter II: a. Explain Freuds basic attitude towards the religion of the common man.

As expressed in The Future of an Illusion (1927), the common man view religion as a way of dealing with suffering. b. Explain the pleasure principle in terms of what men themselves show by their behavior to be the purpose and intention of their lives. Mans behavior shows that he is constantly striving for happiness. This happiness comes in two parts. The first part is his striving to alleviate any feelings of pain. The second part is mans desire to have intense feelings of pleasure. c. List the different ways in which humans attempt to overcome their sufferings in life, according to Freud. Science/technology- phone, medicine Illusion over reality- art and religion (creativity) Intoxication Love Beauty- useless, serve no function but only to please you Madness Renunciation of desire- repressing Sublimation- instead of repressing energy, take the energy and rechanneling it to something constructive, using your creativity d) Why do people sometimes feel hostile to civilization? Because civilization restricts nature, body, and relationships. 3. Chapter III: a. How does Freud define civilization or culture (Kultur)? b. The whole sum of the achievements and regulations that distinguish our lives from our animal ancestors. It serves 2 purposes, to protect us against nature (help us overcome suffering) and to adjust our mutual relations. c. List and explain the individual features or elements of civilization, those that Freud discusses throughout this chapter. d. Activities and resources (help man to continue with great advances and increase their likeness to G-d.) e. Nations (help to assist man in exploiting the earth so as to protect him against the forces of nature.) f. Beauty (demonstrates the science of cleanliness and order.) g. What does sublimation mean and how does it play a role in cultural development? Sublimation is the process of re-channeling repressed energy into something creative. We create culture to avoid suffering. Culture leads to restrictions on our desires and instincts. Instead of repressing, we re-channel this energy to something else. When we rechannel our energy it makes our culture stronger. 4. Chapter IV:

a. Explain Freuds speculations on the origins of civilization through the dynamics of the primal or primitive family. b. The primal family consisted of a husband, wife, and two children (sons.) c. The sons kill the father because they think he has too much power, and they want to split it up. d. After they kill the father, they create rules to divide the power. These rules are the first traces of laws (civilization.) e. They feel guilty about killing their father so the deify their father (the beginnings of religion.) f. Explain the ways in which civilization has restricted (repressed) the sexual lives of its members and why Freud would be a strong proponent of gay rights today. g. Society has restricted the rights because it tells people how to live. It dictates that people may only have sexual relations with those of the opposite gender. Therefore, it cuts off a significant number of people from sexual enjoyment (gay people.) Freud would like it if everybody could enjoy themselves so hed be for gay rights. 5. Chapter V: a. In explaining the ways in which a community is bound together and through which the sexual instincts must be restricted, Freud comes to criticize the Christian imperative Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Explain. b. He argues against loving your neighbor because they are strangers and they do not deserve your love. If we love everyone freely, we devalue love. c. Freud would prefer the saying if it were Love thy neighbor as thy neighbor loves thee. d. What is the element of truth about human nature that helps to explain why it is impossible that everyone will love one another? e. The element of truth is that all men are naturally aggressive and do not want to be loved. f. Explain Freuds critique of communism in terms of aggression and property. a. Communism takes away private property in the hope that doing so will equalize everyone. There is an inherent hostility existing in humans (that is not created by private property.) (NOTE: the inherent hostility is created by sexual relationships especially peoples tendency to be jealous.) Because we have always had the inherent hostility, taking away private property will not work.

6. Chapter VI: Freud tells us that he was convinced that the instincts could not all be of the same kind. In his work Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), he identifies two basic but contrary instincts, one of which he had ignored earlier in his investigations. a. What are these two mutually opposed instincts that help to explain the phenomena of life? What are some examples of the ways in which humans express these instincts? b. 1) Eros (AKA libido & love) is the life instinct innate in all humans. It is the desire to create life and favors productivity and construction. c. 2) Thanatos (AKA death drive) is the instinct towards aggressiveness. d. Which of these two instincts constitutes the greatest impediment to civilization? Explain. e. Thanatos. The inclination to aggression is an original disposition in man. The purpose of civilization is to bind men to one another into communities; the death drive complicates this process greatly because mans natural instinct is to be against everybody else (and towards the disintegration of society.)