Faintness in civilization - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

The Malayan in civilization , is a book written by Sigmund Freud and dating from the summer 1929. It is also translated by It Malayan in the culture . This article structure in four summaries, increasing length.

In a few words

The culture is built on instinctual renouncement, because the joint life supposes a restriction of individual freedom.

The respect of the social requirements is ensured by the father then by the super-ego (interiorized father, faculty car-to be forced, moral conscience). The tension between ego (pleasure principle) and the super-ego (principle of reality), between selfishness (self-love) and the altruism (love of others), are source of the feeling of guilt and the moral conscience.

These social requirements appear in morals and the religion: these speeches try to legitimate and ensure the renouncement of the egoistic pleasure.

Summary runs

Origine of the religious need

the origin for the religious need is not in the oceanic Sentiment (feeling “to do one with the world”) but in the feelings of Désaide (Hilflosigkeit) infantile and of désirance for the father, replaced later by the anguish in front of the power of the Destin.

Goal of the life and human action

the idea of a finality of the life is maintained and crumbled at the same time as the religious system.
the suffering threatens on 3 sides, in source:

(1) of the body, which is condemned to rot and which cannot do without the pain like alarm signal

(2) of the outside world

(3) of others (perhaps this is the threat most painfully felt)

possible psychic Strategies vis-a-vis the life:

- Satisfaction without restriction of all the needs; trying but imprudent

- To tackle nature threatening by technology and science

- To remake the world: Paranoia (to correct an unbearable aspect of the world), religion

- To operate the sensitive apparatus: chemical intoxication (drugs).

- To act on the source intimates need by certain processes animic. Extreme case: setting with died of the impulses.

- Even more moderate way: domination of the impulses by the higher psychic authorities which were subjected to the principle of reality

- Displacement of the Libido by work: displacement of the instinctual aims towards a psychic work (intellectual or artistic) or ordinary which is not exposed to the outside world (sublimation).

- To turn the back on reality, to isolate themselves from the others (hermit)

- To be centered on the love. Problem: be likely to lose the liked object.

- To be centered on the pleasure of the beauty (human, natural, artistic, scientific).

Conclusion: there is no universal solution: each one must seek its solution adapted to its case: the mainly erotic man privileges the relations between feeling and other people, the narcissistic man seeks in his internal processes animic essential satisfactions, the man of action does not release the outside world on which it can test his force.

the culture

the culture is the total sum of the achievements and devices which are used for two ends: the protection of the man against the nature and the regulation of the relations of the men between them. The culture is not only concerned of utility because the beauty belongs to the interests of the culture.

Culture and instinctual renouncement

the development of the culture involves a restriction of individual freedom: the culture is built on instinctual renouncement; from where hostility of certain individuals to the culture.
Love and culture is opposed: on the one hand the love is opposed to the interests culture, on the other hand the culture threatens the love of significant restrictions.
There is in the man leaning with the aggression. The interest of the community of work would not ensure the cohesion of the company because instinctual passions are stronger than the rational interests. Human crowd must be dependant libidinalement because the interest of work is not enough to maintain their cohesion. Thus is needed that the men likes, therefore it is necessary to restrict the sexual life.
Beside the expansive tendency of the Eros (tendency to gather the alive substance in increasingly large units, libidinalement to create increasingly vast human society by binding the individuals), it must have there another impulse, opposed to it, which tends to dissolve these units: the death instinct. This destroying impulse is with the service of the Eros (it destroys another thing that oneself).
the culture is a lawsuit with the service of the Eros. To this program is opposed the destroying impulse, principal kid of the death instinct (Thanatos). The development of the culture is thus the vital combat of the mankind (starting from a certain historical event in any case).

Culture, super-ego and moral

By the culture (education) the aggression is interiorized, returned there from where it came, directed against ego clean. Ego is divided into one I and a super-ego, the super-ego being the authority which directs the aggression against ego, the interiorized father. The tension between the severe super-ego and it me which is subjected to him is the conscience of culpability; it appears like need for punishment. This conflict is poked by the joint life: the culture increases the feeling of guilt.

the evil is at the it beginning for what one is threatened of loss of love; it is by anguish in front of this loss that the evil should be avoided. This anguish in front of the loss of love is the “social” anguish.

As long as all occurs well for the man, its moral conscience, is lenient and passes to ego all sorts of thing; when a misfortune struck it, it makes return on itself, recognizes its state of sin, is essential abstinences and is punished by penitences. Misfortune involves the self-punishment or the punishment of a fetish.

- That is explained by the fact why the destiny is identified with the relative: a misfortune means that one is not loved any more. When it occurs one repented in front of this power that in happiness one claimed to neglect.

- Thus, the moral conscience is the consequence of the instinctual renouncement. The instinctual renouncement which to us is imposed outside creates the moral conscience, which requires then a new instinctual renouncement.

In the cultural lawsuit, the principal goal is to form a community, the happiness of the individuals is relegated to the background. Humanity also produced a super-ego, which pushes with the development of the culture.

This super-ego-of-the-culture has requirements, which appear in the form of ethics. Ethics is a therapeutic attempt, an effort to reach a command of the super-ego.

- But ethics is too demanding, it worries too little about ego: it enacts a command without wondering whether it is possible to observe it. The directive “likes your next as yourself” is impracticable.

“be value judgments of the men are directed unconditionally by their wishes of happiness, are thus an attempt to support their illusions by arguments. ”

Average summary

I. Origin of the religious need: distresses and need for protection

- The “oceanic” feeling (feeling “to do one with the world”) is not the source of all the religious needs. It is before all the feelings of désaide infantile and désirance for the father - replaced later by the anguish in front of the power of the destiny - which is causes of the religious need.

II. Behaviors vis-a-vis the life

- The life is too hard for us. To support it, we have resort to 3 kinds of remedies:

(1) powerful diversions to forget our misery or to attach little importance (ex to it: scientific activity)

(2) substitute satisfactions which decrease misery (ex: art)

(3) amazing which returns to us insensitive to our misery (ex: dope)

- Only the religion can answer the question of the finality of the life: the idea of a finality of the life is maintained and crumbled at the same time as the religious system.

- The suffering threatens on 3 sides, in source:

(1) of the body, which is condemned to rot and which cannot do without the pain like alarm signal

(2) of the outside world

(3) of others (perhaps this is the threat most painfully felt)

Possible ways towards happiness:

- Satisfaction without restriction of all the needs; trying but imprudent

- To tackle nature threatening by technology and science

- To remake the world: paranoia (to correct an unbearable aspect of the world), religion

- To operate the sensitive apparatus: chemical intoxication (drugs).

- To act on the source intimates need by certain processes animic. Extreme case: setting with died of the impulses.

- Even more moderate way: domination of the impulses by the higher psychic authorities which were subjected to the principle of reality

- Displacement of the libido by work: displacement of the instinctual aims towards a psychic work (intellectual or artistic) or ordinary which is not exposed to the outside world.

- To turn the back on reality, to isolate themselves from the others (hermit)

- To be centered on the love. Problem: be likely to lose the liked object.

- To be centered on the pleasure of the beauty (human, natural, artistic, scientific). Conclusion: there is no universal solution: each one must seek its solution adapted to its case: the mainly erotic man privileges the relations between feeling and other people, the narcissistic man seeks in his internal processes animic essential satisfactions, the man of action does not release the outside world on which it can test his force.

III. What culture?

- The culture is the “total sum of the achievements and devices (…) who are used for two ends: the protection of the man against the nature and the regulation of the relations of the men between them. ” The culture is not only concerned of utility because the beauty belongs to the interests of the culture.

- The development of the culture involves a restriction of individual freedom: the culture is built on instinctual renouncement; from where hostility of certain individuals to the culture.

IV. Origin of the culture and factors determining its evolution

- One distinguishes two forms from love: love original, sensual, and love inhibited as for the goal (relation brother-sister, etc) which becomes culturally important because he escapes many limitations from the genital love (for example with its exclusiveness).

- Love and culture are opposed: on the one hand the love is opposed to the interests culture, on the other hand the culture threatens the love of significant restrictions.

V. Culture and Eros

- It is no beneficial to love the foreigner; to like its next as oneself is absurd and impossible.

- Man is a wolf to man. This leaning with the aggression obliges the culture with the expenditure which is his. The interest of the community of work would not ensure the cohesion of the company because instinctual passions are stronger than the rational interests. Thus is needed that the men likes, therefore it is necessary to restrict the sexual life; from where the recommendation: “likes your next like yourself”.

VI. Eros and Thanatos

- The impulses cannot be all of the same species. Beside the expansive tendency of the Eros (tendency to gather the alive substance in increasingly large units, libidinalement to create increasingly vast human society by binding the individuals), there must thus be another impulse, opposed to it, which tends to dissolve these units: the death instinct. This destroying impulse is with the service of the Eros (it destroys another thing that oneself); the destruction is source of pleasure (narcissistic) because it carries out the old wishes of absolute power of ego.

- The culture is a lawsuit with the service of the Eros. Human crowd must be dependant libidinalement because the interest of work is not enough to maintain their cohesion. To this program is opposed the destroying impulse, principal kid of the death instinct (Thanatos). The development of the culture is thus the vital combat of the mankind (starting from a certain historical event in any case).

VII. Super-ego and feeling of guilt

- The tendency to aggression is opposed to cultural cohesion. But by the culture (education) the aggression is interiorized, returned there from where it came, directed against ego clean. Ego is divided into one I and a super-ego, the super-ego being the authority which directs the aggression against ego. The tension between the severe super-ego and it me which is subjected to him, we call it conscience of culpability; it appears like need for punishment.

- The evil is at the it beginning for what one is threatened of loss of love; it is by anguish in front of this loss that the evil should be avoided. This anguish in front of the loss of love is the “social” anguish.

- As long as all occurs well for the man, its moral conscience, is lenient and passes to ego all sorts of thing; when a misfortune struck it, it makes return on itself, recognizes its state of sin, is essential abstinences and is punished by penitences. Misfortune involves the self-punishment or the punishment of a fetish.

- The anguish in front of the authority involves an instinctual renouncement (not to lose the love of this authority). One is then free towards it, and it should not remain any more of feeling of guilt. But with regard to the anguish (later) in front of the super-ego (which pushes with the punishment), the renouncement is not enough “to be free” because the intention (badly to act) persists and is not let dissimulate with the super-ego.

- The super-ego is the interiorized father but its anger is that of the child (against the father).

- The feeling of guilt does not come from the parricide: it is the expression of the conflict of ambivalence, of the combat between Eros and Thanatos, i.e. the perception of the tension between the tendencies of ego and the requirements of the super-ego This conflict is poked by the joint life.

VIII. Morals, super-ego of the culture

- The feeling of guilt is a topics variety of the anguish; in its late phases, it coincides completely with the anguish in front of the super-ego. The religions occur with the claim of rédimer the humanity of this feeling of guilt which they call sinned.

- In the development of the individual, the principal goal is the pleasure, insertion in a community is only one means. On the other hand, in the cultural lawsuit, the principal goal is to form a community, the happiness of the individuals is relegated to the background. Humanity also produced a super-ego, which pushes with the development of the culture.

- This super-ego-of-the-culture has requirements. Concerning the relations of the men between them, this requirement appears in the form of ethics. Ethics is a therapeutic attempt, an effort to reach a command of the super-ego. It is a question of drawing aside the largest obstacle of the culture, leaning it with the aggression. But ethics is too demanding, it worries too little about ego: it enacts a command without wondering whether it is possible to observe it. The directive “likes your next as yourself” is impracticable.

- Ethics known as natural does not have here anything to offer if it is narcissistic satisfaction to have the right to only regard itself as better are not the different ones. The ethics which is supported on the religion utilized here its promises of beyond. I estimate that as a long time as the virtue will not find its reward as of this ground, ethics will preach in vain.

“be value judgments of the men are directed unconditionally by their wishes of happiness, are thus an attempt to support their illusions by arguments. ”

Long summary

I. Origin of the religious need: distresses and need for protection

The “oceanic” feeling, i.e. is the feeling “to do one with the world” (according to Romain Roland) source of all the religious needs? (Not.)

Nothing is for us more assured than the feeling our me, which appears autonomous to us, unit, dissociated well from all the remainder. However this appearance is a lure: ego continues itself towards the interior, without sliced border, in an unconscious being animic (it that), to which it is used to some extent as frontage. But, towards outside at least, the border is well marked except in the roof of the state in love and certain pathological states (schizophrenia).

Training of the distinction me/outside world

At the beginning, the infant does not distinguish one me and an outside world. He learns how to do it little by little. Contrary to the parts of the body, the maternal center is not always available; one needs a particular action (to shout) to bring back it to oneself; later, the feelings of pain and displeasure are rejected into the outside world to form a pure me-pleasure to which is opposed an outside foreign and threatening. But this partition is false (pleasures come from the outside world and the body is sometimes source of suffering). One learns how little by little to distinguish what is interior of what is external and which does not depend on us, thus taking the first step towards the introduction of the principle of reality (this distinction makes it possible to be denied the feelings of displeasure). In the beginning it me all contains, gradually it separates from him the outside world. It is possible that this original feeling (feeling of one me inclusive) survives the sides of its offspring (feeling of ego of maturity), which would explain the origin of the “oceanic feeling”. (Metaphor of the city (Rome): new constructions are done without destruction necessary of old which remain in the form of ruins. The same applies to the human spirit.)

Origin of the religious needs

Of which right the “oceanic feeling” does claim he to be regarded as the source of the religious needs? The need most extremely for childhood is that of paternal protection. It is before all these feelings of désaide infantile and désirance for the father - replaced later by the anguish in front of the power of the destiny - which is causes of the religious need. Consequently, the “oceanic feeling” does not have the leading role, it is put afterwards in relation to the religion; because to form a unit with the whole is a means of denying the danger whose it me the threat recognizes coming from the outside world.

Note: according to some, practices as yoga make it possible to wake up in oneself feelings of universality which would be unmemorable states and would give a physiological base to many wisdoms concerned with the mystic.

II. Behaviors vis-a-vis the life

The life is too hard for us. To support it, we have resort to 3 kinds of remedies:

(1) powerful diversions to forget our misery or to attach little importance (ex to it: to cultivate its garden; scientific activity);

(2) substitute satisfactions which decrease misery (ex: art);

(3) amazing which returns to us insensitive to our misery.

We do not know the finality of the life. One can wonder whether there is one of them. Only the religion can answer the question of the finality of the life: “the idea of a finality of the life is maintained and crumbled at the same time as the religious system. ” The men wish happiness, objective with two faces: (1) positive goal: to live strong moments of pleasure; (2) negative goal: not to undergo neither pain nor displeasure. The activity of the men is spread in these two directions.

The pleasure principle poses only the finality of the life and dominates the operation of the heart. It is with the service of a finality but in dissension with the world (at the same time with the outside world, macrocosm and the man, microcosm). It is not realizable. Happiness is limited by our own constitution because it does not persist (one enjoys intensely only what is contrast).

The suffering threatens on 3 sides, in source:

(1) of the body, which is condemned to rot and which cannot do without the pain like alarm signal;

(2) of the outside world;

(3) of others (perhaps this is the felt threat most painfully).

Under the pressure of these threats, the men moderate their claim with happiness, the pleasure principle reorganizes themselves with the principle of reality: one estimates oneself already happy to have escaped with the suffering, the escape of the suffering (negative goal) pushes back with the background the research of the pleasure (positive goal).

Multiple ways making it possible to achieve these goals were recommended by various schools of wisdom and were borrowed by the men:

Spontaneousness:

- Satisfaction without restriction of all the needs; it is more trying but that means to put the pleasure before prudence and that finds its punishment after a short practice.

Action on reality:

- To tackle nature threatening by technology and science

Action on its design of reality (to want to remake the world):

- Paranoia: it assigns everyone to variable degrees: one corrects an unbearable aspect of the world.

- The religions belong to these are delirious of mass, replannings of reality. The religion breaks freedom, formate everyone with its way. Its method: to decrease the value of the life, to deform in a delirious way the image of the real-world (what presupposes an intimidation of the intelligence). It thus succeeds in saving many neuroses but it is almost all.

Action on oneself:

- To operate the sensitive apparatus: chemical intoxication: drugs operate the sensitive apparatus; it is their advantage which makes their harmfulness.

- To act on the source intimates need by certain processes animic. Extreme case: setting with died of the impulses (Eastern wisdom, yoga). Goal: the happiness of the rest.

- Even more moderate way: domination of the impulses by the higher psychic authorities which were subjected to the principle of reality: the aiming of satisfaction is not given up and the inhibition of the impulses protects from the suffering. But that decreases the possibilities of pleasure because the pleasure of the satisfaction of a wild impulse is much higher than the pleasure of the satisfaction of a domesticated impulse. (Would That explain the attraction for the interdict?)

Work (instinctual investment, sublimation):

- Displacement of the libido by work: displacement of the instinctual aims towards a psychic work (intellectual or artistic) which is not exposed to the outside world. But the intensity of these satisfactions is deadened compared to the primary education pleasures; moreover, this strategy is accessible only to one minority (it supposes particular predispositions); finally, it does not protect completely from the suffering (for example coming from the body). In the absence of specific measures, ordinary work can play the same part. Work makes it possible to affirm and justify its existence within the company and to move its libido. However the man appreciates little work as a way towards happiness, from where social problems.

Choice of the objects (orientation of the glance):

- To turn the back on reality, to isolate themselves from the others (hermit)

- To be centered on the love. Problem: be likely to lose the liked object.

- To be centered on the pleasure of the beauty (human, natural, artistic, scientific). That offers little protection to the suffering but a substantial compensation. Of which pleasures of art: the research of the pleasure in the works of art illustrates the will to be made independent of the outside world. But if art is source of pleasure and consolation, it is in a fugitive and weak way.

Conclusion: there is no universal solution: each one must seek its solution adapted to its case: the mainly erotic man privileges the relations between feeling and other people, the narcissistic man seeks in his internal processes animic essential satisfactions, the man of action does not release the outside world on which it can test his force.

III. What culture?

There are 3 sources of suffering: nature, the body and men.

Sometimes one intends to say that “the culture is responsible for our misery”. This thesis is surprising because the culture is a protection against nature. However, this charge of the culture is explained historically by:

a certain dissatisfaction compared to each cultural state given. This dissatisfaction produced several consequences:

- a religion: the Christianity, which devalues the terrestrial life.

- an idea: the thesis according to which the primitive ones are happy.

- a disease: the neurosis (caused by the refusal of the company).

disillusion vis-a-vis technological advances: it is discovered that this progress is neither the single condition of happiness nor the single goal of the culture.

Objective: to determine the gasoline of this culture whose happiness is questioned. All the activities and values are cultural which are advantageous with the man by putting nature at its service or by protecting it from the other men (ex: use of fire). Thus, one can define the culture like the “total sum of the achievements and devices (…) who are used for two ends: the protection of the man against the nature and the regulation of the relations of the men between them. ” The tools aim at improving our bodies (driving and sensory). The gods are cultural ideals, they have all that seems inaccessible to the men.

The culture is not only concerned of utility because the beauty belongs to the interests of the culture. The order is useful. Cleanliness is useful, but the utility does not completely explain the tendency to cleanliness. There is thus something of another concerned. If any human action aims at the utility or the profit of pleasure, then the same applies to all the cultural events (although it is not obvious that for sciences and arts).

Last feature characteristic of a culture: the adjustment of the human relations: “the replacement of the power of the individual by that of the community is the decisive cultural step”.

The development of the culture involves a restriction of individual freedom, which explains the hostility with the culture of some. The cultural lawsuit is similar to the of libido development of the individual. The culture is built on instinctual renouncement; from where hostility with the culture. First impression: the culture obtains sublimation by the constraint. “But one will make better think of it even longer. ”

IV. Origin of the culture and factors determining its evolution

The joint life is founded on the need for work and the love (man-woman (Eros) and child wife (Anankè)). The genital pleasure being the model of happiness, it should have been the central reference. But the wise ones disadvise this way because it involves a strong dependence on the object of selected love. Certain people find happiness on the way of the love, “but for that of full animic modifications of the function of love are essential. These people make themselves independent of the approval of the object by moving the principal value because of being liked on that to like oneself. They are protected from the loss from this object while directing their love (…) on all the human beings” (ex: Saint François d' Assise).

One distinguishes two forms from love: love original, sensual, and love inhibited as for the goal (relation brother-sister, etc) which becomes culturally important because he escapes many limitations from the genital love (e.g. with its exclusiveness). But love and culture are opposed: on the one hand the love is opposed to the interests culture, on the other hand the culture threatens the love of significant restrictions. The conflict between the family and a larger community is a symptom of this opposition. Strong family ties involve difficulties to enter a broader sphere, fought by the company by rites of puberty and reception to help the individual to be detached from with the family. These difficulties are related to any psychic development and any organic development.

The women enter in opposition with the current of culture of which they had posed the bases by their love. The women represent the interests of the family and the sexual life. Work is especially the business of the men; it necessitates sublimations to which the women are not very suited. The libido consumed at cultural ends is withdrawn mainly with the women and the sexual life, until the male is about foreign with the tasks of husband and father. The culture tends to restrict the sexual life and to extend the sphere of the culture. The woman is pushed with the background by the culture and enters a report/ratio of hostility to it.

The first cultural phase (totemism) implies the interdict of the incestueux object-choice; in the second, by the taboo, the law and the habit, other restrictions are founded. It is an economic need: the culture must withdraw psychic energy almost as much than it consumes some. “The culture acts here towards sexuality like a tribe or a layer of the population which subjected another of them to its exploitation. The anguish in front of the rising of oppressed pushes to take rigorous measures of precaution. ” It is justified that our current culture prohibits the manifestations of the childish sexual life (if not it would be impossible to dam up the sexual desires of the adults); but what is unjustifiable, it is that the culture denies this prohibition.

“The object-choice (…) is tiny room to the opposed sex, the majority of extra-genital satisfactions are prohibited like perversions. ” This requirement of a sexual life of comparable nature for all is the source of a serious injustice (because there are inequalities (innate and acquired) in the sexual constitution, from where a rather great number of private individuals of pleasure). The success as of these restrictive measures could be now that, at those which are normal, (…) any sexual interest flows without loss in the open left channels (hétérosexuelle relation). But even this genital love heterosexual continuous to suffer the injury caused by the limitations which the culture imposes on sexuality. But perhaps sublimation it is implied by the gasoline of the sexual function itself, which refuses us full satisfaction and pushes us towards other ways. It could be an error, it is difficult to slice.

V. Culture and Eros

the culture wants libidinalement to bind the ones to the others the members of the community.

Reasons possible to love somebody: he is a sex object; “it is so similar to me that I can like myself in him”; “it is so much more perfect than me than I then to like in him the ideal than I have of my own person”; etc

But it is no beneficial to love the foreigner; it is absurd to like its next like oneself, and especially it is impossible. Man is a wolf to man (leaning with the aggression, wars…). “The existence of this leaning with the aggression (…) is the factor which disturbs our report/ratio with next and obliges the culture with the expenditure which is his. (…) The interest of the community of work would not ensure cohesion the company of the culture, instinctual passions are stronger than the rational interests. ” Thus it is necessary that the men like, therefore the sexual life should be restricted; from where the recommendation: “likes your next like yourself”.

Critical of Communism: to remove the property does nothing but withdraw from the pleasure-desire of aggression one of its tools: remain the differences of power and influence, and the gasoline of this aggression (which is not the consequence of a hypothetical perversion by the private property of an originally good human nature).

One would like to rationalize the culture so that it makes to us happier, but “perhaps we as with the idea familiarize ourselves as there are difficulties which are inherent in the gasoline of the culture and which will not yield to any attempt at reform. ”

VI. Eros and Thanatos

First idea: “hunger and love” ensure the cohesion of the wheels of the world. There is a division between the hunger (selfishness, ego instincts) which wants to preserve the individual being and the love (altruism, impulses of object) whose principal function is to preserve the species. The libido is initially turned towards ego (narcissism). Then this narcissistic libido turns to the objects, becoming thus object-libido, and can retransformer in narcissistic libido.

Thus all the impulses are of libido. But the impulses cannot be all of the same species. Beside the expansive tendency of the Eros (tendency to gather the alive substance in increasingly large units, libidinalement to create increasingly vast human society by binding the individuals: the culture is a lawsuit with the service of the Eros), it must thus have there another impulse, opposed to it, which tends to dissolve these units: the death instinct. This destroying impulse is with the service of the Eros (it destroys another thing that oneself); the destruction is source of pleasure (narcissistic) because it carries out the old wishes of absolute power of ego.

The culture is thus a lawsuit with the service of the Eros. Human crowd must be dependant libidinalement because the interest of work is not enough to maintain their cohesion. To this program is opposed the destroying impulse, principal kid of the death instinct (Thanatos). The development of the culture is thus the vital combat of the mankind (starting from a certain historical event in any case).

VII. Super-ego and feeling of guilt

How the culture fights against Thanatos: erection of the super-ego

The tendency to aggression is opposed to cultural cohesion. But by the culture (education) the aggression is interiorized, returned there from where it came, directed against ego clean. Ego is divided into one I and a super-ego, the super-ego being the authority which directs the aggression against ego. The tension between the severe super-ego and it me which is subjected to him, we call it conscience of culpability; it appears like need for punishment.

“The culture thus controls the dangerous pleasure-desire of aggression of the individual by weakening this last, by disarming it and by making it supervise by an authority located inside itself, as by a garrison occupying a conquered city. ”

Super-ego, moral conscience and feeling of guilt

“A great change intervenes only when the authority is interiorized by the erection of a super-ego. U melts, it is only now that one should speak about moral conscience and feeling of guilt. ”

Origin of the moral judgments

“Often the evil is not at all what is for ego harmful or dangerous, on the contrary it is even something which by him is wished, which gets satisfaction to him. Here thus appears a foreign influence; it is it which determines what must be called well and badly. L is necessary that a reason has to subject itself to this foreign influence; this reason is easy to discover in its désaide and its dependence compared to the others and one could not indicate best that as distresses in front of the loss of love. (If it loses the love of the other, on which it is dependant, it also has suddenly missed protection against all kinds of dangers, being exposed above all to the danger to see this other surpuissant to show its superiority in the form of punishment to him.) The evil is thus at the it beginning for what one is threatened of loss of love; it is by anguish in front of this loss that the evil should be avoided. ” This anguish in front of the loss of love is “the social” anguish.

Moral conscience and blows dealt by fate

“As long as all occurs well for the man, its moral conscience, it also, is lenient and passes to ego all sorts of thing; when a misfortune struck it, it makes return on itself, recognizes its state of sin, (…) impose yourself abstinences and punishes itself by penitences. ” Misfortune involves the self-punishment (ex: populate of Israel, with God like father) or the punishment of a fetish (ex: primitive man).

That is explained starting from the original infantile stage of the moral conscience, which continues to parallel to exist the “moral conscience” of the super-ego: the destiny replaces the relative; a misfortune means that one is not loved any more: when it occurs one inclines oneself in the repentance in front of this power that in happiness one claimed to neglect.

“At the beginning the moral conscience (more exactly, the anguish which becomes later moral conscience) is certainly causes instinctual renouncement, but later the report/ratio is reversed. Any instinctual renouncement then becomes a dynamic source of the moral conscience. moral conscience has is the consequence of the instinctual renouncement; or: the instinctual renouncement which to us is imposed outside creates the moral conscience, which requires then a new instinctual renouncement”.

Origin of the feeling of guilt

The anguish in front of the authority involves an instinctual renouncement (not to lose the love of this authority). One is then free towards it, and it should not remain any more of feeling of guilt. But with regard to the anguish (later) in front of the super-ego (which pushes with the punishment), the renouncement is not enough “to be free” because the intention (badly to act) persists and is not let dissimulate with the super-ego.

Prohibition by the father involves renouncement and aggression, which in his turn must be driven back. One leaves this situation economically difficult by accommodating in oneself, by identification, the unattackable authority, which becomes the super-ego and enters in possession of all this aggression that child one would have liked to exert against it. The original severity of the super-ego is not that which one knew of the father or which one charges to him, but that which represents our own aggression against him. The vindicatory aggression of the child is determined by the degree of punitive aggression until it waits of the father. But the experiment reveals that severity of the super-ego is independent (or almost) of the severity which the child knew. Solution with this problem: influence other factors (genetic determination, medium).

Summary: the super-ego is the prolongation of the father, the interiorized father (it is formed by identification with the external authority), but its anger is that of the child (against the father).

the murder of the father is not at the origin of the feeling of guilt

The original remorse (following the murder of the father) was the result of the very first ambivalence of feeling towards the father (haï and liked); once satisfied hatred by the aggression, the love was done day in the remorse of the act, set up the super-ego by identification with the father, gave him the power of the father as by punishment of the act of aggression perpetrated against him, created the restrictions which were to prevent a repetition of the act. But the feeling of guilt does not come from the parricide: it is the expression of the conflict of ambivalence, of the combat between Eros and Thanatos. This conflict is poked by the joint life. The culture can bring together the men only by increase in their feeling of guilt, which ends up reaching heights hard to bear.

VIII. Morals, super-ego of the culture

The feeling of guilt is the most important problem of the development of the culture. The price to be paid for the culture is a loss of happiness, because of the rise in the feeling of guilt. The feeling of guilt is a topics variety of the anguish; in its late phases, it coincides completely with the anguish in front of the super-ego. The religions occur with the claim of rédimer (to repurchase, to save) the humanity of this feeling of guilt which they call sinned.

The moral conscience is one of the functions of the super-ego, having to supervise the actions and the aimings of ego, carrying on an activity of censure. The feeling of guilt is the perception of the tension between the tendencies of ego and the requirements of the super-ego; it is a form of masochism, in the connection with the super-ego.

Chronologically it is initially the conscience of culpability which appears, then the super-ego, then the moral conscience. The conscience of culpability is the immediate expression of the anguish in front of the external authority, the recognition of the tension between ego and the external authority, the direct kid of the conflict between the need to be liked by the authority and the other impulses. The remorse can be older than the moral conscience. It is the aggression alone which moults of feeling of guilt, while being submitted with the super-ego; in other words, it is necessary to restrict with the aggressive impulses the derivation of the feeling of guilt. Conclusion: “if an instinctual tendency succumbs to repression, its libidinaux elements are transposed in symptoms, its aggressive components of feeling of guilt. ”

In the development of the individual, the principal goal is the pleasure, insertion in a community is only one means. On the other hand, in the cultural lawsuit, the principal goal is to form a community, the happiness of the individuals is relegated to the background. The tendency to individual happiness and that with fastening with humanity are fought in each individual (selfishness and altruism). Humanity also produced a super-ego, which pushes with the development of the culture. The “fathers” of humanity are certain exemplary characters - who are often scoffed and maltreated of their alive (ex: Jesus).

This super-ego-of-the-culture has requirements. Concerning the relations of the men between them, this requirement appears in the form of ethics. “From time immemorial, one attached the greatest value to this ethics, as if one awaited it precisely particularly important performances. ” Ethics is a therapeutic attempt, an effort to reach a command of the super-ego. It is a question of drawing aside the largest obstacle of the culture, leaning it with the aggression. But ethics is too demanding, it worries too little about ego: it enacts a command without wondering whether it is possible to observe it. The directive “likes your next as yourself” is impracticable.

Ethics known as natural does not have here anything to offer if it is narcissistic satisfaction to have the right to only regard itself as better are not the different ones. The ethics which is supported on the religion utilized here its promises of beyond. I estimate that as a long time as the virtue will not find its reward as of this ground, ethics will preach in vain.

“be value judgments of the men are directed unconditionally by their wishes of happiness, are thus an attempt to support their illusions by arguments. ”

"Faintness in Culture" , PUF, 2004, ISBN 213054701X

Reference

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