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Freud/Civilization at Risk

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Essay / Research Paper Abstract

A 4 page research paper that answers the question: "Why according to Freud, is civilization permanently at risk?" The writer draws on Freud's text Civilization and Its Discontents to show that Freud felt that civilization would always be at risk from the primitive urges that lurk just below the surface of our civilized veneer. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

Page Count:

4 pages (~225 words per page)

File: D0_khfrcivr.rtf

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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:

classic text Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud posited that the problems that are inherent to any society find their impetus in the tension that exists between instinctual urges and the requirements of civilization. Therefore, while authors through the centuries have periodically pictured utopias, where all humanity lives in peace and prosperity, an examination of Freuds philosophy demonstrates that he felt that civilization would always be at risk from the primitive urges that lurk just below the surface of our civilized veneer. Freud pictures civilization as evolving from the time when human beings first banded together in order to facilitate their common survival. In order to accommodate the requirements of living in a social group, individuals had to set aside some of their personal wants and desires. It may seem very "good" to one ancient caveman to hit one of his neighbors over the head with a rock and take his goods, but this sort of behavior precludes social cooperation. Therefore, "good" became defined by the parameters of what was beneficial to the majority of the people (Freud, 1953). As this indicates, Freud, rather than basing morality on a religious foundation, sees the nature of good and evil as risking out of the circumstances that caused the formation of civilization. In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud expresses the opinion that people are driven an instinctive search for happiness, in which they find that all of their desires are met. Nevertheless, in order to facilitate the processes of social contact and guard against external dangers, people banded together. Freud commented, "one feels inclined to say that the intention that mans should be happy is not contained in the plan for creation" (1953, p. 36). As this suggests, Freud saw the limitations that people had to place ...

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