A Memoir of Sigmund Freud

This past weekend I went over Sigmund Freud’s “Civilization and Its Discontents” briefly and thoroughly. First I started off by doing some research on Sigmund Freud and found out that he was an insightful Jewish man from Hungary, Austria who grew up in a sexually repressive society in a small house. I then thought to myself that the reason he became so sexually minded is because of the sexually repressive society he grew up in which probably made him more carious about sex as he grew older. He developed psychoanalysis and believed that ancient man created God for a better understanding of life. He was Jewish, however he was a secular Jew who did not believe in God but still abided by Jewish rules. He also believed that we humans are sex driven and developed many books and theories of his beliefs that attracted many famous people such as Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Many believe he was definitely a brilliant guy, but he was just flat out wrong with his beliefs. At age 38, he died from bone cancer as a result his drug addiction.

In civilization and Its Discontents Freud breaks down the impact civilization has on the man. He states how he believes civilization restricts the man from aggressiveness and gives him a sense of guilt if he breaks the laws. Freud also talks about the establishment of the super-ego which involves the conscience and regulates both our thoughts and deeds according to him. He also talks about how the super-ego keeps watch over the intentions of the ego by incorporating the sense of guilt whenever there is tension between the demands of the super-ego and the strivings of the ego. The id, super-ego, and the ego are basically what society creates in us to regulate man and keep him safe from nature by linking the internal components (id, super-ego, and ego) to the beliefs and ideas of the man and the civilization according to Sigmund Freud.