PHL 333 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Inbreeding, Nuclear Family, Heterosexuality
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PHL333
Lecture 8
Freud
- Chapter 4- largely occupied with question of what civilization is
- Civilization is taken to be a thing only humans possess- whatever social groups animals
and insects possess, very few people would think of those social groups of civilization
- Social grouping is an inherent part of civilization but not the only thing
- Class discussion- products of civilization should have rule of law- do animals have that?
Animals have some law (wolves have fight for hierarchy and everyone abides by who
wins), justice system (some manner of addressing problems, rules for applying rules),
passing knowledge – one might think it is automatic and instinctual (we benefit from
previous generations in important ways, continuity between generations), established
harmony with nature, place as where we belong (home), development over generations,
governing bodies, religion, art (concerned with beauty, but beauty serves no obvious
function), language, interest in knowledge (to large extent about controlling world, the
better we learn nature the better we can control it, science oriented towards
understanding)
- Cleanliness- Freud singles out as part of civilization, when we read about history and
realize how rotten their teeth may have been and how smelly they may have been, we
think that the more we clean up our act, the more we are civilized- one of tendencies of
civilization has been greater cleanliness
- What are the forces that explain what civilization is, there is bees, bears, ants- none of
those species do this, what is it about us that leads to this?
- Freud identifies three essential sources- first two are necessity and love- focuses on love
most, means sexual love, sensual love, focuses on sex in its variety forms, aim inhibited
love (love when you take the sex out, love that still involves power of attraction that
sexual love involves, but specific purpose of sexual love which is orgasmic and sexual
content is taken out of picture)
- New theory, Freud claims psychoanalysis brought for him is aggression
- Three essential sources- necessity, love, aggression
- Freud thinks we have an aggressive impulse, we need to destroy things, we find a certain
satisfaction in destruction (kid taking enjoyment in breaking someone else’s toys
especially), we cannot deny that there is a natural aggression that has to be satisfied, need
an outlet for them, in a way it is a challenge to civilization but also important, necessary
in civilization, we take certain pleasure in aggression so we need to have it as an outlet
- Necessary need in aggression has to be largely challenged and controlled ends up turning
inwards, even infant expresses aggression, world sucks- that is aggression, need an outlet
for aggression
- As civilization challenges aggression, we turn it inwards and start hating ourselves,
turning it to guilt (feel bad and are angry with yourself for doing something), taking voice
of punishing father and now it is in your head
- Necessity has largely to do with establishing a home in the world
- We benefit from working on the world, changing the world to make it more to our needs,
the more we realize instead of walking around and listening to our instincts, we realize
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
we have to develop discipline in some areas (rather than eating bunny I caught, I am
going to save it and catch more- a more satisfying end so developing a kind of discipline
- Our most powerful instincts is sexual instincts
- Freud thinks back to the most primitive stages of human live- end of chapter 3- his vision
starts with very individualistic picture, bunch of human individuals doing their own thing,
what brings them together to make them want to live together, necessity is part of that,
we can do a lot more together than alone, if we work together we have more control over
nature and satisfying our instincts
- Start to develop groups of people with necessity, _____
- Let’s work together, we can live a more satisfying life if we group together and share
work, family grouped by necessity and efficiency
- Necessity part he sees is crucial- the more we work together in communities the more we
satisfy our needs
- Necessity may not be most important factor, love is
- How does family evolve out of love- bunch of individuals not living together in stable
way, each is human with human instincts out to satisfy, sex is most intense form of
satisfaction humans want to satisfy, if I can only have sex on days where I run into
equally disposed person and that doesn’t always happen, I will feel largely dissatisfied,
family is the answer- Freud sees family as male sexual interests that motivates him to
seek a partner, and her motivation is having a stable environment for her children
- Presumably, pre-civilized women felt urge for sex, didn’t just want babies- Freud leaves
this out
- Necessity leads to family and so does more importantly sex, family is beginning of social
grouping, we leave individuals living in forest to stable groupings structure
- Freud posits middle stage between this and more civilized communities where he
imagines situation where main father has a lot of wives and kings, he is like a king,
instead of nuclear family, it is a big family-imagined situation where brothers resent
father and control, and killed father and banded together to make a community with no
patriarch, need a taboo against incest so do not fight over who sleeps with which sister,
incest is the most devastating thing against sexual desires
- First main law is don’t have sex with your sibling, cousin, parents
- Gross to think of that now, but that is because we are products of civilization and taught
to resent incest
- Main force happening is shutting down/restriction of sexual desires
- Step 1- if you’re going to enter civilization, have to start limiting sexual desires
- Civilization requires sexual repression
- Our sense of being disgusted by sexual relationships between family members, incest
taboos are primarily culture based
- We have desire that therefore goes unsatisfied
- Freud starts with individual who is full-fledged human being, Freud then questions what
forces drive them to live together in communities
- His definition of society starts with individual, then individual develops into society
- Freud is a modern thinker because he thinks individuals adapted to society and did not
start social from the very beginning
- You are most free as an individual, because no one was telling you anything or
prohibiting anything- live by your own instincts
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Chapter 4- largely occupied with question of what civilization is. Civilization is taken to be a thing only humans possess- whatever social groups animals and insects possess, very few people would think of those social groups of civilization. Social grouping is an inherent part of civilization but not the only thing. New theory, freud claims psychoanalysis brought for him is aggression. Necessary need in aggression has to be largely challenged and controlled ends up turning inwards, even infant expresses aggression, world sucks- that is aggression, need an outlet for aggression. As civilization challenges aggression, we turn it inwards and start hating ourselves, turning it to guilt (feel bad and are angry with yourself for doing something), taking voice of punishing father and now it is in your head. Necessity has largely to do with establishing a home in the world. Our most powerful instincts is sexual instincts. Start to develop groups of people with necessity, _____
