Sigmund Freud : Discussion Points

Session 1: Please read: Biography of Sigmund Freud and Sigmund Freud Quotations

I would like you to consider the following issues. I have pointed out the relevant notes in the text and the numbers of the primary sources that deal with the subject.

(1) Sigmund Freud and Anti-Semitism

Notes 1-15 and Sources 1-2

What impact did anti-Semitism have on the development of Freud's personality?

(2) Studies on Hysteria

Notes 40-48 and Quotation 5

What are your views on Freud’s ideas? Give some examples from Freud's patients of neurotic behaviour. Can you give an example of some early trauma that has led to neurotic behavior in yourself?

(3) Neurotic Behaviour

Notes 40-48 and Quotations 6-7

Do you agree with Freud that "hysteria and obsessional neurosis" are "curable"?

(4) Oedipus Complex

Notes 53-65 and Quotations 9-10

Do you believe in the Oedipus complex?

(5) Freud's Theory of Dreams

Notes 66-80 and Quotations 12-15

What do you think about Freud's theory of dreams? Do you have recurring dreams?

(6) Sexual Repression

Notes 81-87 and Quotations 15-18

Has Freud anything to tell us about child abuse today?

(7) International Psychoanalytical Association

Notes 88-109

Why did Sigmund Freud clash with Alfred Adler and Wilhelm Stekel?

(8) Relationship with Carl Jung

Notes 110-142

How does the quotation by Friedrich Nietzsche help to explain Freud relationship with Carl Jung: "One poorly repays a teacher if one remains only the pupil."

(9) First World War

Notes 143-156

What impact did the First World War have on Freud's views on international conflict?

(10) Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Notes 157-170

Do you agree that we try to maximize pleasure and minimize pain?

Do you believe in the death instinct?

(11) The Ego and the Id

Notes 171-177 and Quotations 25-27

According to Freud the three agencies in the mind are the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the repository of the instinctual drives, sexual and aggressive. It is totally unconscious and totally unsocialized. It always operates on the pleasure principle, demanding satisfaction of the drives completely and without delay. This drive does not care about the consequences of this action or the well-being of others and its main task is of self preservation.

The superego is our conscience. It represents our having taken into our own mind the standards and prohibitions of our parents and of society. Originally we feared losing the love and protection of our parents if we gave way to the impulses of the id. The superego therefore gives us a sense of guilt over our actions. Part of the superego is conscious. We therefore know a lot about what our conscience permits and forbids.

What do you think of this theory?

(12) Sigmund Freud and Religion

Notes 183-194 and Quotations 29-34

Nick Rennison, the author of Freud and Psychoanalysis (2001) has argued that Freud's The Future of an Illusion (1927) was an attempt to explain the psychological origins of religion. "Freud's lack of sympathy with religious ideas pervades the book. Religion is compared to neurosis, something to overcome if full maturity is to be achieved. Religious practices have the same psychological roots as the rituals of obsessional neurotics. Belief in gods, and religious ideas generally spring from man's helplessness in the face of nature. Just as the helpless child turns for protection to the father, religious believers turn to father figures that have been created for them by earlier generations in the shape of the gods."

What do you think of Freud's ideas on religion?

(13) Civilization and Its Discontents

Notes 195-208 and Quotations 35-39

Do you agree with Freud when he argues: "The substitution of the power of a united number for the power of a single man is the decisive step toward civilization. The essence of it lies in the circumstances that the members of the community have restricted their possibilities of gratification, whereas the individual recognized no such restrictions. The first requisite of a culture, therefore, is justice - that is, the assurance that a law once made will not be broken in favour of any individual."

Do the quotations from Civilization and Its Discontents (1929) help to explain religious belief?