HCJ - Freud

Sigmund Freud is known for his theories on the unconscious mind, psychoanalysis and for suggesting that motivational energy for humans derive from sexual energy. Free association was a technique that Freud discovered. It was a technique used within psychoanalysis to help patients learn about themselves and how they feel, and was used as an alternative to hypnotherapy.

• We live in a Freudian world whether we like it or not.
• Freud was seen as a sexual renegade - this damaged our idea of ourselves as noble creatures.
• Freud's ideas contrasted those of the Enlightenment, because he believes we aren't controlled by rational things, whereas philosophers such as John Locke said humans are born with a 'blank slate' and it is the through experience that we gain knowledge.
• He viewed sex as a motivational factor for our actions.
• Women were seen to envy the penis; because women did not have penis' they saw themselves as bad and thought they had been castrated. As a result of this, women loved their father more because he had a penis, and rejected their mother as she lacked this.
• Freud thought that "self-love" as a race was a barrier to science in 3 ways:
  - It stopped people accepting that the earth was not the centre of the universe.
  - Darwin's theory of evolution.
  - The conscious brain was not in charge.
  
• The UNCONSCIOUS is the key to Freud:
  The mind is divided into 3 parts:
  - The Id - this operates on the pleasure principle and reacts from symbols.
  - Ego/Self - which is based on the reality principle; how to satisfy pleasures. (The origin of consciousness)
  - And the Superego - this has internalised rules of parents or society. (As Reich states, 'the policeman inside your head'.)
  
• Freud said there are 5 stages of development:
  1) Oral stage - mouth - premature weaning could lead to problems - eating, smoking drinking etc.
  2) Anal - toilet training
  3) Phallic phase - Obsessed with penis or lack of. Women's need for domination. (Oedipus complex)
  4) Latency - Sex becomes unimportant until after puberty.
  5) Genitals


• The battle between the Superego, Ego and the Id can result in REPRESSION which is when people lock their painful memories into their unconscious mind.
• Problems relate to difficulties in any of these phases:
  - Sublimation - turning sexual energy into something else, art/ sport for example.
  - Displacement - shameful thoughts, turning them into something else/someone else.
  - Projection - sending feelings onto someone else. (E.g. Initiating a fight)
  - Rationalisation - returning to an earlier stage of development. (E.g. Fetal position for comfort)
• The key to psychoanalysis is that you are hiding something form yourself. Freud claimed that he had found a way to deal directly with the unconscious, the Id.
• Hypnosis, pressure method, free association and dreams are examples of this.
• Ultimately these were methods to let off steam, because we could never escape the unconscious.
• Freud believed that aggression could never be eliminated, the idea was to try and control it.
• 'The group wants to be dominated' - there's a fear that no-one is in charge. There's a craving for a parent figure. (Now that 'God is dead'.)
• Freud said that civilisation was there to control people's desires.
• Freud said that in groups, people never gave up their libidinal feelings to their leader and the aggressive instincts to others outside the group.
• Attacks on Freud:
  - Scientific predictions could never be proved as Freud was so vague. 'You hate your mother.'
  - No proof that psychoanalysis works.

HCJ - Friedrich Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher who wrote, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'. Within this he explained that individuals should aim to be the 'Ubermensch' (Overman). Nietzsche wrote this book with the aim to teach humanity about the Overman and how this must be the meaning of the earth. The Overman is seen as someone who is free from all the prejudices and moralities of human society, and who creates his own values and purpose. Nietzsche suggests that values are what create human beings and that we are to blame for creating high values and consequently having to live up to them.

Nietzsche displays his thoughts and values through the character of Zarathustra. Zarathustra values struggle and hardship, as he believes sacrifice is essential in the journey towards the Overman.
Zarathustra is disappointed as he is unable to talk to all of the people in the marketplace, but then focuses on the people who do listen as he sees them as separating themselves from the 'herd'.

Religion is not considered positive in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'. Christianity is seen as a hatred of the body and of this earth. Believing in Christianity is like denying the body and earth by believing in the spirit and in an after life. Escaping is something Zarathustra thinks people do through Nationalism and mass politics if their bodies are weak or sick. He suggests that those who are strong enough struggle but those who are not strong enough give up and turn to religion or democracy in order to escape from themselves and their weaknesses.

"The old saint has not yet heard in his forest that God is dead."

"God is dead" is a well-known statement from this book, however the meaning of this is sometimes misunderstood. Neitzsche meant that the shared cultural belief in a God in Europe had died, as oppose to the literal death of God.

It is implied that being rich or poor is seen as too much of a burden to people and could be seen as another way of escape by hiding behind your financial status.

Zarathustra describes the three metamorphoses of the spirit:
Spirit ® Camel ® Lion ® Child

"The weight bearing spirit takes upon itself all thse heaviest things:

In the lonliest desert (once the Spirit is the Camel) the spirit then becomes a lion; it wants to capture freedom and be lord in its own desert. The lion is capable of creating new values, but to create itself freedom for new creation, that the might of the lion can do. The child is innocence and forgetfullness, a new beginning, a sport, a self-propelling wheel, a first motion, a sacred yes. The spirit now wills its own will."

Zarathustra emphasises the importance of sleep and states; "sleeping is no mean of art". It it enforced that you have to stay awake in order to sleep for the whole night. He also states that you have to overcome yourself ten times a day as this causes a fine weariness and is opium to the soul. As well as overcoming yourself you have to discover ten truths a day, otherwise you will seek truth in the night too.

Nietzsche's aim of this book, I believe, was to illustrate to people that they do not have to follow the crowd and that to try to be the Overman was a better way to live their lives because they would have a journey to overcome to reach that goal, instead of using religion and democracy to hide behind.

WINOL Feature: Autumn Trends 2010