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Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis and the Self: Sigmund Freud's Influence in 19th Century Philosophy and Science
Nineteenth century thinking was characterized by the emergence of two revolutionary ideologies that influenced the course of human history for the succeeding centuries: Karl Marx's conflict theory and Sigmund Freud's method of psychoanalysis in psychology. Marx's analysis of the political economy of the capitalist system led to the development of the Socialist movement. Freud's psychoanalytical theory, meanwhile, emphasized the pursuit for self-knowledge and individuality as the key towards personal development.
This paper gives focus on the life of Sigmund Freud, mainly because of his significant contribution towards establishing the kind of contemporary society prevalent in Western societies -- that is, an individualist society, wherein the pursuit of self-knowledge led to social and personal (individual) progress.
Born in the Czech Republic in 1856, Sigmund Freud had led the life of a true scientist and academician. Educated at Vienna University, Freud had earlier planned to pursue a career as a lawyer, although he decided to pursue medicine instead (also at Vienna University) in 1873. As a medical student, he expressed interest in the study of natural sciences, undergoing research work on human biology, particularly neurological research, and remained for six years at the University to obtain his medical degree (the additional three years was spent on conducting extended neurological research work). After obtaining his medical degree, Freud practiced at the General Hospital of Vienna. In 1885, he left his post as a doctor in the hospital to accept work as a lecturer in Vienna University. It was in this year that Freud went to Paris to be under Jean Charcot's guidance in pursuing his studies in neurology. Under Charcot, he experienced working on nervous diseases, particularly hysteria (Microsoft Encarta 2002).
A year after he finished his studies under Charcot in Paris, Freud began pursuing and exploring the nature and development of illnesses such as hysteria and the method of hypnotherapy to alleviate the adverse effects of hysteria on the individual. It was in 1891 that Freud was able to publish his years of research on hysteria and hypnotherapy, and five...
Two important concepts govern Freud's psychoanalytic theory: the psyche and the unconscious. The Psyche is referred to as the soul of the individual. In psychoanalysis, the psyche "is the mental apparatus as it is defined in contrast to the body or soma" (Thurschwell, 2000:4). The Unconscious, meanwhile, is the "storehouse of instinctual desires and needs ... unconscious is ... The great waste-paper basket of the mind -- the trash that never gets taken out" (4). Moreover, in the conceptualization of the unconscious, Freud also explains that the unconscious develops prior to the development of consciousness -- a phenomenon that psychoanalysis synonymously associates with the exploration of the true nature of the human being, where life is primarily based on 'instinctive desires and needs.'
He further develops his study of psychoanalysis by identifying important elements and theses that became the basis for this paradigm. Freud posits that "unlearned biological instincts influence the way individuals think, feel, and behave" (Santrock, 2000:9). By claiming this, psychoanalysis looks into the personal history of the individual to identify how people behave the way they do; ultimately, how individuals develop to become what they are as adults was influenced by experiences they had as a child. Ultimately, psychoanalysis looks into the conflict that emerges within the individual, as s/he tries to reconcile his/her social realities against his/her biological needs and desires.
Using the assertions discussed above, Freud looks into how psychoanalysis is operationalized through a study of the illness, hysteria. According to Levine (1999), psychoanalysis seeks to arrive at the following "truths" concerning human nature: (1) only the psychoanalytic method of interpretation and treatment can yield or mediate for the patient the correct insight into the unconscious causes of his neuroses and (2) the patient's correct insight into the conflictual cause of…
Bibliography
Freud, S. (1999). The Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by J. Crick. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gilman, S. (1994). Reading Freud's Reading. NY: New York University Press.
Levine, M. (1999). The Analytic Freud: Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. NY: Routledge.
Santrock, J. (2000). Psychology. NY: Prentice-Hall.
(Hobdell; Fordham, 1998) Freud also contributed to sociology and closely linked the works with psychoanalysis. The consideration that Freud's work is about individuals has alienated sociologists from considering the work as a sociological Inquiry. While the psychoanalysis was progressing and gaining ground in Europe and America, Sociologists were being influenced by the theories that related to socialization. This was more related to the gender roles in children, and about sexuality.
This means that other aspects which could be affecting the mood of the individual (such as: a chemical imbalance) are overlooked. This is when the chances rise of some kind of misdiagnosis taking place. As a result, the strengths of this theory will provide everyone with a basic background. However, it cannot be applied to every situation involving patients. Instead, only select elements will offer a better understanding of
And moreover, the virtues that had been "automatically" accorded to Freud over the years -- "clinical acumen, wisdom in human affairs, dedication to his patients and to the truth" -- are now obscured by the skepticism that has come due to the deep questioning and investigation over time (Kramer, 1998, pp. 199-200). That skepticism among scholars has also been brought on by a lack of "accord" between what Freud
Prevos (2005) further states, "…A person's identity is formed through a series of personal experiences, which reflect how the individual is perceived by both him or herself and the outside world -- the phenomeno-logical field. Individuals also have experiences of which they are unaware and the phenomenological field contains both conscious and unconscious perceptions. The concept of the self is, according to Rogers, however, primarily conscious. The most important determinants
Freud Civilization and Its Discontents Humankind strives for happiness, but according to Sigmund Freud, the creation of civilization as a means to further this goal has instead generated unhappiness. In his book Civilization and its Discontents, Freud asserts the happiness of the individual is often sublimated to the need for civilization to establish law and order. People have an instinctual desire for absolute freedom which includes a need to be sexually
He focused on the progressive replacement of " erotogenic zones in the body by others. This early biological organism of sexuality first looks for oral gratification by sucking at its mother's breast, which later will be replaced by other objects. At first, the infant is not able to recognize the distinction between itself and the breast, but it soon begins to see its mother as its first external love