Thomas Hobbes certainly makes such an argument in his LEVIATHAN, and social contract theorists to this day take up the same theme. In order to do this we ban together with other humans to form civilization, which is much more what most of us today would regard as cultures - ways of living in close connection to other people. Thus, on Freud's view, the birth of civilization is rooted in egoism - each of us striving in an often hostile world, to create the greatest amount of personal happiness and avoid pain as best we can. Each of us is born into a threatening world and we seek to avoid pain and gain pleasure. The origins of civilization are in the individual. He simply leaves us with greater clarity about the question and a clear insight into his over-arching theory of psycho-analysis. Is civilization a benefit or harm to human beings?įollowing a long and intensive inquiry into fascinating aspects of this question Freud will not come to a conclusion. The Interpretation focuses on the inner life and development of the individual while Civilization turns away from the individual to the development of the various cultures of the world and eventually points toward the universal world which we seem today to be moving more and more toward.Īfter a segue in which Freud examines (and rejects) the possibility of some "oceanic" sensibility, and in which he declares strongly that human existence has no objective and independent meaning other than what humans choose to give it,įreud turns to the main question of the book: The two works actually make a great pair to examine together. I have been delving into his much earlier work, The Interpretation of Dreams, but haven't yet sat down to read it systematically cover to cover with copious note taking as I did with the Civilization work.
Whatever the cause of my less than memorable first read, I am delighted that I spent last week with this work and hope to return to a few other Freud classics to see if they challenge me as strongly as this one did. Perhaps I was simply too young in my own intellectual development to appreciate some of the negativity concerning human existence which Freud forces us to face. I found it much more intriguing and persuasive than I did before. 92 pages.Īfter about 30 years of time lapsed, I have returned to re-read Sigmund Freud's 1930 classic Civilization and Its Discontents. Translated from the German by James Stranchey. Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
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