Comparing Sigmund Freud's Civilization And Its Discontents

The way in which Human beings have long prided themselves in surviving throughout history is through the creation of a civilization. In which has only survived by “successfully” reflecting the best interest of all its members within it instead of each individual. In Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents the question of whether or not this creation is for the better or for the worse of humankind is exemplified. By suppressing a vast amount of our instincts in order to function within a society, the human race may have perhaps been limited to far as self-destruct our own species. Civilization, against our basic nature, has done much to repress most of our instincts and pleasures that in turn have created a discontented society where …show more content…
These feelings “are restricted to the aggressive instincts” and further prove the lack of success civilization has had doing away with this instinct. By attempting to suppress instincts such as aggressiveness humanity may in all actuality still act out through their aggressive instincts. A way in which we manage to act out some aggression while still having the approval of civilization is through our right to “use violence against criminals, but the law is not able to lay hold of the more cautious and refined manifestations of human aggressiveness” This again may prove to be effective for only a small amount of time before another outlet of this instinct is sought after. With both the individual internal and external struggle caused by civilization, there is great unrest among man, which can lead to “no difficulty in exterminating one another to the last man” (pg.149). This self-destruction is prevalent during the time of the world wars and the disillusionment felt