Friday, February 25, 2011

Sigmund Freud - The Unconscious, Psychoanalysis, and 'Civilization and its Discontents'

Sigmund Freud outlines his theory of human psychology and the unconscious.

The subconscious mind influences our consciousness with incredible strength, yet we are not aware of our subconscious nor able to control it (at least not while in a conscious state) - as evidenced by post-hypnotic suggestion

Freud realized that uncovering the subconscious is crucial to fixing psychological problems - he found that he was able to recover long-lost memories from patients simpy by reassuring them that they could remember what was forgotten

Psychological problems result when our subconscious wishes interfere with our conscious ones and we submit to the subconscious - i.e. when subconscious impulses go against our ethical codes

Our subconsious impulses are inherently aggressive and savage, and it is these selfish impulses that cause discontent in society - hence, no government that relies on human "goodness," such as communism, will ever succeed

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