Sigmund Freud

by Gen

Freud took up the study of medicine at Vienna; he eventually choose a specialty, neurology. While no evolutionist would argue with Freud's theory of the Universe1 Freud's extended views have gotten us into some serious difficulty. He advanced the theory "that hysteria can be cured by making a patient recall painful memories under hypnosis." His colleagues frowned at the idea, and Freud changed over from neurology to psychopathology.

"To use a familiar but helpful analogy, the mind is like an iceberg, with only a small proportion of it visible above the surface, but a vast hidden bulk exerting its influence on the rest. For the unconscious is dynamic in nature, that is, it actively exerts pressures and influences on what a person is and does. For instance, there are unconscious desires, which can cause someone to do things that he cannot explain rationally, to others or even to himself."

Personality is a result of both the individual's heredity; and, in addition, his experience. Most, I imagine, would agree with this proposition, but I suppose there might to a number of persons prepared to debate as to what extent personality is governed by experience; personally, I do not think by much. Experience, undoubtedly, governs our actions; but personality changes,I think they come about as a result of physical changes to the brain. Freud's theory of individual human character, his theory of psychoanalysis, starts from Josef Breuer's discovery that "traumatic" experiences could, although the events of the trauma may well be forgotten, exercise a baneful influence on a person's mental health.

Freud classified mental activity to exist at three levels: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id is the centre of our primitive instincts; it is blind and ruthless and caters to the business of gratifying our desires and pleasures; the new born infant is the personification of the Id. The Ego develops out of the Id as the child grows. The Ego is not so inward seeking and recognizes that there does exist a world beyond; the Ego acts as censor to the Id, checking the primitive desires for immediate gratification, recognizing the larger picture, so to speak. Conflict between the Id and the Ego can result in a person having neuroses. The third state is the Superego. The Superego is the highest state at which we have arrived in our evolutionary "progress." The Superego is an overseer, our conscience; and, like the Id, is something of which we are not conscious. Though we are not aware of the struggle, according to Freudian theory, there exists a continuing battle between the Id and the Superego with the Ego in the center trying to keep them apart.

Freud came out with his first influential work, in 1900, The Interpretation of Dreams. In this work there is contained nearly all his fundamental observations and ideas. "Dreams," Freud said, "are invariably the product of a conflict ... (they help sleep) releasing tensions that come from unattainable wishes." It is, according to Freud, the Id which unleash our dreams; and their meanings are expressed in symbols that require "expert" interpretation.