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athousandgreatbooks's review against another edition
4.0
The child is, psychologically speaking, the father of the man.
The human psyche, as construed by Freud, comprises, loosely, of three sub-structures –
The Es or the Id (the unconscious drives that demand release);
The Ich or the Ego (the conscious component one sees as oneself);
The Uber-Ich, or the Super-Ego (the internal judge or critic that the Ich aspires towards)
The Es along with their unconscious organic drives form the core of our being and obey the unrelenting pleasure principle. Over time, as the Es are continually in touch with a dangerous reality, they form a cortical layer called the Ich, in which we are most likely to recognize ourselves.
The Ich is ruled by a consideration for safety and looks to bind the free-flowing Es out of which it has emerged.
The Ich then has to defend itself against a dangerous reality as well as against the all-too demanding internal pressures of the Es. But there is another front where the Ich must defend itself – the internalized judge or critic that is modeled after parental figures of authority, the Uber-Ich, which can also be called our conscience.
So here we are with a frail Ich (Ego) desperately trying to assert its independence while satisfying the claims of an unbridled world of the inner drives, a dangerous reality, and an internal critic.
We understand why we are so often unable to stop ourselves from crying out: ‘Life is so difficult!’ If the Ich is forced to admit weakness it breaks out into fear: objective fear of the external world; conscience-based fear of the Uber-Ich; and neurotic fear of the strength of the passions in the Es.
All neuroses are acquired only in early childhood when the developing Ich defends itself against the three forces, always unsuccessfully for it is ill-equipped and unformed, through attempts at repression. Thus the damage done to the Ich during the first phase of life is disproportionately large, an idea corroborated by the fact that most neuroses can be linked back to early childhood.
Being Freud’s last work, this was quite a challenging read due in no small part to the depth of his unconventional yet highly illuminating conceptualizations of the psychic content. There a lot of sensitive and contentious ideas such as the Oedipus Complex, penis-envy, the unifying and destructive forces within the libido, and the mechanism and purpose of dreams that are bound to elicit a lot of resistance and controversy (as it has). Safe to say, Freud is an anathema to the feminists. Love him or hate him, it is hard to ignore Freud. One should read with care and an open mind.
My favorite quote: If we throw a crystal to the ground, it smashes – but not in an arbitrary way: it breaks along its lines of cleavage into fragments whose boundaries may have been invisible, but were nevertheless predetermined by the crystal’s original structure.
The human psyche, as construed by Freud, comprises, loosely, of three sub-structures –
The Es or the Id (the unconscious drives that demand release);
The Ich or the Ego (the conscious component one sees as oneself);
The Uber-Ich, or the Super-Ego (the internal judge or critic that the Ich aspires towards)
The Es along with their unconscious organic drives form the core of our being and obey the unrelenting pleasure principle. Over time, as the Es are continually in touch with a dangerous reality, they form a cortical layer called the Ich, in which we are most likely to recognize ourselves.
The Ich is ruled by a consideration for safety and looks to bind the free-flowing Es out of which it has emerged.
The Ich then has to defend itself against a dangerous reality as well as against the all-too demanding internal pressures of the Es. But there is another front where the Ich must defend itself – the internalized judge or critic that is modeled after parental figures of authority, the Uber-Ich, which can also be called our conscience.
So here we are with a frail Ich (Ego) desperately trying to assert its independence while satisfying the claims of an unbridled world of the inner drives, a dangerous reality, and an internal critic.
We understand why we are so often unable to stop ourselves from crying out: ‘Life is so difficult!’ If the Ich is forced to admit weakness it breaks out into fear: objective fear of the external world; conscience-based fear of the Uber-Ich; and neurotic fear of the strength of the passions in the Es.
All neuroses are acquired only in early childhood when the developing Ich defends itself against the three forces, always unsuccessfully for it is ill-equipped and unformed, through attempts at repression. Thus the damage done to the Ich during the first phase of life is disproportionately large, an idea corroborated by the fact that most neuroses can be linked back to early childhood.
Being Freud’s last work, this was quite a challenging read due in no small part to the depth of his unconventional yet highly illuminating conceptualizations of the psychic content. There a lot of sensitive and contentious ideas such as the Oedipus Complex, penis-envy, the unifying and destructive forces within the libido, and the mechanism and purpose of dreams that are bound to elicit a lot of resistance and controversy (as it has). Safe to say, Freud is an anathema to the feminists. Love him or hate him, it is hard to ignore Freud. One should read with care and an open mind.
My favorite quote: If we throw a crystal to the ground, it smashes – but not in an arbitrary way: it breaks along its lines of cleavage into fragments whose boundaries may have been invisible, but were nevertheless predetermined by the crystal’s original structure.
freudslanaplaylist's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
sigo's review
2.0
I appreciate that Freud was an leading figure of psychology and made it into the science that it is today, but most of what Freud theorizes in his novel has been disproved by modern psychology and he shouldn't be read as scientific fact.