NEW232Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Genital Stage, Reality Principle, Preconscious
Document Summary
Psychoanalysis is a way of understanding all human behavior (philosophy, theology, literature, history, art, politics, ethics). It especially changed our way of viewing sex and aggression. Freud saw humans as comprised of powerful instincts (or drives/(cid:373)oti(cid:448)atio(cid:374)s(cid:895) that ha(cid:448)e to (cid:271)e (cid:858)ta(cid:373)ed(cid:859) (cid:271)(cid:455) so(cid:272)iet(cid:455) {bp- lust and hatred are similar concepts} These instincts, if properly expressed (not indulged), are the basis of a healthy life. Leads to a so(cid:272)ial (cid:272)o(cid:374)tra(cid:272)t: (cid:271)eha(cid:448)e (cid:449)ell, do(cid:374)(cid:859)t har(cid:373) (cid:455)ourself or others, i(cid:374) e(cid:454)(cid:272)ha(cid:374)ge for a good life. Our family, education and society eventually integrate into ourselves. According the freud, the fundamental problem of humanity is our i(cid:374)(cid:374)er (cid:858)beast(cid:859): destructive/ sexual/chaotic impulses that can destroy the individual and society. The freudian ideal was the empowerment of an autonomous individual, who could be free of conditioning, free from religious/political control, who had the capacity to determine their own destiny. He had a doctrine of secular salvation, essentially the same goal as original buddhism.
