The Theories of Freud and Nietzsche
Sigmund Freud believed that the sexual instinct, or libido, was the motivating power behind human acts and behavior (Riviera, trans. 1989) and that the overall conflict between civilization and sexuality was based on the frustration or obstacle placed upon that instinct and that frustration developed the neurosis that characterized civilization. To him, sexual love is an exclusive relationship between two persons, wherein a third, even their offspring, was a disturbance. The outside world was an excess and an annoyance against which the relationship constantly struggled. The sexual pair was sufficient and gratified with its union and would not pursue any further. Freud saw the eros as the ...
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another person sexually without that other person's permission, to downgrade, take his belongings, inflict pain, and even to kill that other person - quite the opposite of nurturing love. This innate craving to afflict, undermine or destroy another person was simply waiting for a chance to be roused or expressed directly or through some excuse or cover-up. Freud suggested that this negative or destructive force within a man made him like a beast, which was not mindful of the welfare of another beast - or man. This instinct was quite prevalent, Freud noted, before civilization was established and when it was suspended. The early forms of man were savage, and so were the early settlers, migrants and invaders, such as the Huns and the Mongols under Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, even the human exterminators of the last two dreadful World Wars.
Freud, therefore, saw man with a sexual and a destructive instinct, which was inhibited by civilization and its tactical and institutional ...
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disruptive of relationships and one's self-image. This explosive and painful inconsistency or dishonesty worked against unity, and instead of confronting the real cause of the disruption, society demanded even more from individuals and increased that dishonesty in the face of clear evidence of every man's natural inclination for hostility towards other men (Freud).
Freud, therefore, concluded that man's primary motivating power was the desire for sexual satisfaction along with the desire to overpower others out of aggression. He saw this as an instinct, not the product of reason or rational thought. He also determined that religion had not done any improvement on this basic ...
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"The Theories of Freud and Nietzsche." Essayworld.com. August 1, 2016. Accessed November 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Theories-of-Freud-and-Nietzsche/105792.
"The Theories of Freud and Nietzsche." Essayworld.com. August 1, 2016. Accessed November 20, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Theories-of-Freud-and-Nietzsche/105792.
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