Sigmund Freud

9 Pages 2167 Words

Modern civilization has always been viewed in the most positive of lights. To many individuals, it conjures the feelings of progress, optimism, and a better world. This saccharine perspective presents the advancement of civilization as a venture without risks. However, there is an inherent dichotomy is present that most individuals fail to recognize. Any progress entails consequences and as much as individuals would like to remain ignorant, there is always the possibility that what is considered to be a positive step forward could ultimately be a detrimental step backwards. The development of civilization entails risks, and Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche were cognizant of this difficult truth. Both men saw how civilization rendered the individual helpless, and each has his own beliefs as to how it contributes to humanity’s unhappiness. Freud critically evaluated it through psycho-analysis, whereas Nietzsche critically evaluated it through the contractual relationship. Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche believed that civilization functioned as a repressive tool, which imprisoned the individual through guilt and pain; as a result, both agreed that people would be much happier if they returned to the primitive conditions that existed prior to modern civilization.
According to Sigmund Freud, there are three sources of suffering. Human beings wish to protect themselves from the third one, which is the social source of suffering, but they do not see that the regulations they place upon themselves do not protect them from it. (Civilization and Its Discontents 37-38). He notes that their efforts are futile since these threats against their happiness emanate from the very civilization in which they live in (38).Thus, individuals cannot protect themselves from suffering when they are at the source of it, and Freud boldly concludes, “…what we call our civilization is largely responsible for our misery...” (38).
Freud believed ...