Paper Topic:

Civilization and Its Discontents

CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS

Introduction

Sigmund Freud is one of the greatest scholars of the time who has contributed to the development and understanding of human beings . He is renowned for his work on the personality theories and other works . He has contributed to the field of philosophy and psychology in special way . This is going to review one of his works on the discontents of civilization where he tried to exemplify the relationship between the society and civilization . The will try to look in details on Freud 's view of

civilization and why it has worked for the society

Civilization according to Freud

In his work that was published in 1930 on civilization and its discontents , Freud tried to explain various issues that came with civilization . Civilization can be defined as the advancement of human being in life . It can be illustrated as the steps that human being had taken in their life to arrive at the present life . Civilization is marked by change in the way things are done which in turn transforms the life of man . For example , compared to the earlier inhabitants , the modern live in houses instead of caves , they wear fashionable clothes instead of skins , they attend school , and other perspectives of life that clearly sets the modern man from his ancestors

Science is very important in civilization . Throughout history , we learn that development in technology was the driving force behind the modern civilization . This is because technology changed the way things were done . Advancement in technology in all spears of life from medicine industry , agriculture , education , and others helped to develop civilization and pass it on to the next generation

But according to Freud , civilization can be defined in terms of convergence of the world . Freud sees civilization as aimed at not benefiting the man morally but bringing the world together which has been achieved in any way . According to Freud , civilization is like trying to control the society in the name of bringing it together Therefore his main work was based on understanding how man relates to the society and the struggle that has been there for man to find the freedom within the society (Sigmund , 1961

Though civilization was supposed to bring about happiness in the life of the society , Freud examines that it brings about discontents Civilization brought about organization of the society that ensured that some have more control on others . This was instituted as a form of power or authority to govern the society . Therefore , the society loses its freedom . Though this doesn 't come out strongly in Freud 's explanation of a society , it is one of results that bring about discontents in civilization

Freud 's explanation of a society was more psychological than philosophical . This is because he tried to explain the process of civilization based on personal analysis . Following the postulation of his personality theory , Freud stresses that civilization is build on egoism . He explains that all humans are driven by egos to...

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