Analysis Of Sigmund Freud's Civilization And Its Discontents

Sigmund Freud is perhaps the most iconic figure in psychology. Although many of his theories in psychoanalysis have been dismissed in the modern age, he is still often referenced and regarded as a noteworthy pioneer in the field of psychotherapy in his time. One of his most prominent works, written and published shortly before his death, is Civilization and Its Discontents. In this piece, Freud takes a rather pessimistic look at the perpetuation of human civilization. He generalizes many of his theories regarding the human unconscious and examines it on a level that encompasses the entire human race. Specifically, he probes the phenomenon of human suffering and how it relates to desires of happiness (even destruction) and the idea of religious faith, his now infamous “oceanic feeling” argument. Written after the brutality that was World War I and while Freud’s health was in steady decline, his negative stance on the overall outcome of civilization is most prominent. …show more content…
His particular friend proposes the idea of a “feeling, which Freud comes to learn as an “oceanic feeling” that is not an “article of faith” but yet manages to drive all religions” (36). However, Freud is not convinced that this “oceanic feeling” as the driving force for the development of religion among humans: “From my own experience I could not convince myself of the primary nature of such a feeling. But this gives me no right to deny that it does in fact occur in other people. The only question is whether it is being correctly interpreted and whether it out to be regarded as the fons et origo of the whole need for religion” (37). Through his analysis and beliefs, Freud concluded religion is an illusion on a massive scale as one of multiple means of the ego coping with suffering and avoidance of what he considers as “unpleasure”. The ego, part of the