Rousseau sees the "ascent" from the animal to the semi-angelic levels as a disaster.
An animal-like existence is the best.
The development of society is the source of all evils:
1. Creates unnatural desires -- for power, prestige, fame, status, romantic love.
2. Leads to the creation of property, the nuclear family, and political oppression.
3. Leads to the development of an unnatural morality, based on principles and virtues.
Natural morality -- consists in pity alone.
The development of society -- result of historical accidents. A mere fluke.
Like Rousseau, Freud sees the root of all problems in a mismatch between our anti-social natures and the impositions of society. Unlike Rousseau, he is ambivalent about whether society is worth the cost.
Sees the value of technology, improved nutrition and health.
Socialization is an unnatural imposition -- results in "discontents".
Although he talks about "civilization", the characteristics he mentions (taboos on sex and violence) are universal.
A. Freud: the essence of a thing is to be found by tracing its beginnings.
Contrast Aristotle, according to whom the essence of a thing is found in its final state, its telos.
Examples: our sense of beauty (essentially sexual) and our conscience (essentially parental).
B. Unlike ants, bees, etc,. humans are not well-adapted to the demands of social life. An evolutionary lag of individual function behind social organization.
C. Humans are hedonistic. Much of Freud's theory is designed to explain apparent counter-examples to this, such as religious asceticism, devotion to artistic or intellectual ideals, neurotic and psychotic behavior.
D. Three-part model of the mind.
Id -- pleasure principle, libido
Ego -- reality principle, reason
Superego -- conscience, internal authority
Much that goes on in the mind is unconscious. Conflicts between id and superego are managed through "secret code" of symbols, both in dreams and in neurotic behavior.
A. In state of nature, humans gratified themselves without restriction, in a great variety of ways.
B. Civilization attempts to confine us to permanent monogamy. This involves a net loss of pleasure.
C. The "sublimation" (diversion) of erotic attraction yields "aim-inhibited" eros = friendship. This sublimated eros is the glue that holds society together.
A. Humans have a built-in need to act out a certain quantity of violence.
B. Society controls this by: (1) providing scapegoats, (2) by internalizing the violence, directing back at the self, resulting in a conscience (superego).
C. Compare E. O. Wilson's account of aggression in On Human Nature, pp. 101-120.
A. Suppression and internalization of aggression leads to a vicious cycle:
The more outward violence the conscience suppresses, the more aggression is channeled into the conscience, making the conscience still more stringent and exacting.
B. Society tends to over-develop the conscience, resulting in impossible and overly-costly demands. E.g., the ethic of universal love.
A. Despite Freud's ambivalence, the major influence of Freud's work has been to motivate an attempt to eliminate sexual repression and guilt.
B. This is ironic, since if it were successful, the result would be (according to Freud's theory) the destruction of society.
C. Tragedy of the commons: what is best for each of us individually is disastrous for society collectively.
Problem: once we've unmasked the conscience, revealing it to be nothing more than an internalized mechanism of social control, how do we restore its authority?
Disillusionment with ethics?
Freud's solution:
He doesn't offer one. Psychotherapy can help ameliorate the discontents, by moderating the superego, but this is only a partial victory.
A. Problem of the origin and durability of society.
The mismatch between an anti-social nature and social organization is unprecedented in the biological world.
How could social organization have moved so far beyond biological function?
E.g, chimps vs. orangutans
B. Inconsistencies between Reductionism and Residual Ethical commitments
Justice:
(1) Freud appeals to a transcendent standard, as grounds for faulting traditional sexual morality.
(2) Yet, Freud argues that nature is unfair, and that justice is nothing but a social construction.
Love:
(1) Love is merely aim-inhibited sexuality. The sex drive is only one of many drives, including the death drive.
(2) Yet Freud clearly pictures (at the end of the book) the conflict between Love and Death as a conflict between Good and Evil.
Isn't the instinct for death (violence) just as much a part of human nature, so equally good? What's the basis for the distinction?
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