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Reflections on War and Death
Reflections on War and Death is a set of twin essays written by Sigmund Freud in 1915, six months after the outbreak of World War I. The essays express discontent and disillusionment with human nature and human society in the aftermath of the hostilities, and generated much interest among lay readers of Freud.
72 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1915
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About the author
Sigmund Freud
4,196books8,154followersDr. Sigismund Freud (later changed to Sigmund) was a neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, who created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human personality. He is regarded as one of the most influential—and controversial—minds of the 20th century.
In 1873, Freud began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he worked at the Vienna General Hospital. He collaborated with Josef Breuer in treating hysteria by the recall of painful experiences under hypnosis. In 1885, Freud went to Paris as a student of the neurologist Jean Charcot. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud set up in private practice, specialising in nervous and brain disorders. The same year he married Martha Bernays, with whom he had six children.
Freud developed the theory that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against them. In 1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of Dreams' was published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and experiences.
In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until 1938. Although the medical establishment disagreed with many of his theories, a group of pupils and followers began to gather around Freud. In 1910, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded with Carl Jung, a close associate of Freud's, as the president. Jung later broke with Freud and developed his own theories.
After World War One, Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published 'The Ego and the Id', which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the 'id, the 'ego' and the 'superego'.
In 1933, the Nazis publicly burnt a number of Freud's books. In 1938, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, Freud left Vienna for London with his wife and daughter Anna.
Freud had been diagnosed with cancer of the jaw in 1923, and underwent more than 30 operations. He died of cancer on 23 September 1939.
In 1873, Freud began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he worked at the Vienna General Hospital. He collaborated with Josef Breuer in treating hysteria by the recall of painful experiences under hypnosis. In 1885, Freud went to Paris as a student of the neurologist Jean Charcot. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud set up in private practice, specialising in nervous and brain disorders. The same year he married Martha Bernays, with whom he had six children.
Freud developed the theory that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against them. In 1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of Dreams' was published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and experiences.
In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until 1938. Although the medical establishment disagreed with many of his theories, a group of pupils and followers began to gather around Freud. In 1910, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded with Carl Jung, a close associate of Freud's, as the president. Jung later broke with Freud and developed his own theories.
After World War One, Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published 'The Ego and the Id', which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the 'id, the 'ego' and the 'superego'.
In 1933, the Nazis publicly burnt a number of Freud's books. In 1938, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, Freud left Vienna for London with his wife and daughter Anna.
Freud had been diagnosed with cancer of the jaw in 1923, and underwent more than 30 operations. He died of cancer on 23 September 1939.
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January 28, 2022
”Si vis pacem, para bellum.
If you want to preserve peace, arm for war.
Si vis vitam, para mortem.
If you want to endure life, prepare yourself for death.�
is one of the most accessible, and stylistically elegant works of Freud I’ve read so far. I would highly recommend this essay for the general public and someone wanting to get better acquainted with the works of Freud, as it perfectly shows the way he forms the argument and it also gives the flare of his core ideas. The essay is divided into two sections, the first is called The disillusionment of the war, and the second is called Our attitude towards death. The essay was written in 1915, during WWI.
I THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR
In the first section, Freud tackles the fact that the war brought great disbelief and disappointment to the men of his time, as they considered humankind to be evolved, to be too civilized to wage war in such a brutal manner again, even more cruel and deadly due to advance in technology and weapons.
“Two things in this war have aroused our sense of disillusionment: the low morality shown externally by states which in their internal relations pose as the guardians of moral standards, and the brutality shown by individuals whom, as participants in the highest human civilization, one would not have thought capable of such behaviour.�
Freud lays out his criticism of this disillusionment as he considers war to be illusion-shattering. The illusion in which we all live in, due to the fact that the truth is too painful to grasp, is that all men have evil passions they continuously suppress in order to integrate into civilized society.
Contrary to Rousseau’s idea of man’s innate goodness being corrupted by society, Freud lays out the central idea of psychoanalysis, that the deepest essence of human nature consists of amoral instinctual impulses which are similar in all men, and which aim at the satisfaction of certain primal need - and some of these impulses are selfish, aggressive and cruel ones, the impulses that society usually condemns as evil. The development process of human life and socializing consists of eradicating these evil human tendencies, and under the influence of education and a civilized environment, replacing them with good ones. These primitive urges are strictly forbidden and undergo and lengthy process of transformation before being allowed to become active in adult. “They are inhibited, directed towards other aims and fields, become commingled, alter their objects and are to some extent turned back upon their possessor.� In reaction-formation, they sometimes appear in the pair of opposites - so egoism can be changed in altruism and cruelty into pity. That is why each individual has “ambivalence of feeling�, as intense love and intense hatred are often found together in the same person, sometimes even directed towards the same object, for example, of desire. Being adequately socialized oftentimes means repressing the big part of human nature, the primal and primitive urges of sexuality and aggression, which are always lingering in the background. For Freud, that makes us all hypocrites in some sense, and civilization favors the production of this form of hypocrisy.
“Anyone thus compelled to act continually in accordance with precepts which are not the expression of his instinctual inclinations, is living, psychologically speaking, beyond his means, and may objectively be described as a hypocrite, whether he is clearly aware of the incongruity or not.
Thus there are very many more cultural hypocrites than truly civilized men. But the transformation of instinct, on which our susceptibility to culture is based, may be undone by the impacts of life. That is why in war, when the community no longer raises objection to evil deeds, men perpetrate acts of cruelty, treachery, rape, and barbarity so incompatible with their level of civilization that one would have thought them impossible.
”In reality, there is no such thing as ‘eradicating� evil.�
What is Freud's suggestion for enforcing these uncomfortable ideas? Freud thinks that honesty and truthfulness about our individual and collective human nature can perpetuate the transformation needed for maintaining the state of peace in the nations, at least as long as we can.
“It is, to be sure, a mystery why the collective individuals should in fact despise, hate and detest one another - every nation against every other - and even in times of peace. I cannot tell why that is so. It is just as though when it becomes a question of a number of people, not to say millions, all individual moral acquisitions are obliterated, and only the most primitive, the oldest, the crudest mental attitudes are left. It may be that only later stages in development will be able to make some change in this regrettable state of affairs. But a little more truthfulness and honesty on all sides - in the relations of men to one another and between them and their rulers - should also smooth the way for this transformation.�
II OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEATH
”‘Navigare necesse est, vivere non necesse.� (‘It is necessary to sail the seas, it is not necessary to live.�)�
War also brings out one of the most important topics of life, constantly ignored in mundane days - that death is the necessary outcome of life, the natural, unavoidable and undeniable. But contrary to the fact of death, we are accustomed to behaving otherwise as we show an unmistakable tendency to put death on the side, to eliminate it from life. Psychoanalytic school ventures on the assertion that it is indeed impossible to imagine our own death, and that unconsciously every one of us is convinced of his immortality. At the bottom, no one believes in his own death. That is probably a necessity for our psychological health, as the real realization of the fact of the death of ourselves and our loved ones would trigger paralyzing anxiety.
Here Freud lays out the beautiful idea about literature and theatre being compensation for what we have to lose in life. In art, we find people who “know how to die�.
”In the realm of fiction we find the plurality of lives which we need. We die with the hero with whom we have identified ourselves; yet we survive him, and are ready to die again just as safely with another hero.�
Our attitude towards death has a powerful effect on our lives. Freud argues that without, at least partial, realization of death, our lives become shallow and empty, impoverished, “it loses in interest, where the highest stake in the game of living, life itself, may not be risked.� “The tendency to exclude death from our calculations in life brings in its train many other renunciations and exclusions.�
But at war, our conventional treatment of death is swept away. Death can no longer be denied, war forces us to believe in it. Death is no longer a chance event as thousands die, sometimes in a single day. Man can no longer keep death at distance, as he can be hit by it at chance every day. But the closeness of death can also evoke eros, love, and passion for life. Life can, indeed, become interesting again, recover its full content. Paradoxically, death makes us feel alive, and that is a part of the reason war cannot be abolished. Here Freud repeats the notion he laid out in the first part of the essay - that it is essential for us the live our life truthfully, to leave nothing unexamined, not even our unconscious attitudes towards death.
“But war cannot be abolished; so long as the conditions of existence among nations are so different and their mutual repulsion so violent, there are bound to be wars. The question then arises: Is it not we who should give in, who should adapt ourselves to war? Should we not confess that in our civilized attitude towards death we are once again living psychologically beyond our means, and should we not rather turn back and recognize the truth? Would it not be better to give death the place in reality and in our thoughts which is its due, and to give a little more prominence to the unconscious attitude towards death which we have hitherto so carefully suppressed?�
Freud is also conscious of the fact that many will not find his, somewhat pessimistic ideas comforting nor even valuable. He concludes his essay in this manner:
“This hardly seems an advance to higher achievement, but rather in some respects a backward step - a regression; but it has the advantage of taking the truth more into account, and of making life more tolerable for us once again.
To tolerate life remains, after all, the first duty of all living beings. Illusion becomes valueless if it makes this harder for us.�
If you want to preserve peace, arm for war.
Si vis vitam, para mortem.
If you want to endure life, prepare yourself for death.�
is one of the most accessible, and stylistically elegant works of Freud I’ve read so far. I would highly recommend this essay for the general public and someone wanting to get better acquainted with the works of Freud, as it perfectly shows the way he forms the argument and it also gives the flare of his core ideas. The essay is divided into two sections, the first is called The disillusionment of the war, and the second is called Our attitude towards death. The essay was written in 1915, during WWI.
I THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR
In the first section, Freud tackles the fact that the war brought great disbelief and disappointment to the men of his time, as they considered humankind to be evolved, to be too civilized to wage war in such a brutal manner again, even more cruel and deadly due to advance in technology and weapons.
“Two things in this war have aroused our sense of disillusionment: the low morality shown externally by states which in their internal relations pose as the guardians of moral standards, and the brutality shown by individuals whom, as participants in the highest human civilization, one would not have thought capable of such behaviour.�
Freud lays out his criticism of this disillusionment as he considers war to be illusion-shattering. The illusion in which we all live in, due to the fact that the truth is too painful to grasp, is that all men have evil passions they continuously suppress in order to integrate into civilized society.
Contrary to Rousseau’s idea of man’s innate goodness being corrupted by society, Freud lays out the central idea of psychoanalysis, that the deepest essence of human nature consists of amoral instinctual impulses which are similar in all men, and which aim at the satisfaction of certain primal need - and some of these impulses are selfish, aggressive and cruel ones, the impulses that society usually condemns as evil. The development process of human life and socializing consists of eradicating these evil human tendencies, and under the influence of education and a civilized environment, replacing them with good ones. These primitive urges are strictly forbidden and undergo and lengthy process of transformation before being allowed to become active in adult. “They are inhibited, directed towards other aims and fields, become commingled, alter their objects and are to some extent turned back upon their possessor.� In reaction-formation, they sometimes appear in the pair of opposites - so egoism can be changed in altruism and cruelty into pity. That is why each individual has “ambivalence of feeling�, as intense love and intense hatred are often found together in the same person, sometimes even directed towards the same object, for example, of desire. Being adequately socialized oftentimes means repressing the big part of human nature, the primal and primitive urges of sexuality and aggression, which are always lingering in the background. For Freud, that makes us all hypocrites in some sense, and civilization favors the production of this form of hypocrisy.
“Anyone thus compelled to act continually in accordance with precepts which are not the expression of his instinctual inclinations, is living, psychologically speaking, beyond his means, and may objectively be described as a hypocrite, whether he is clearly aware of the incongruity or not.
Thus there are very many more cultural hypocrites than truly civilized men. But the transformation of instinct, on which our susceptibility to culture is based, may be undone by the impacts of life. That is why in war, when the community no longer raises objection to evil deeds, men perpetrate acts of cruelty, treachery, rape, and barbarity so incompatible with their level of civilization that one would have thought them impossible.
”In reality, there is no such thing as ‘eradicating� evil.�
What is Freud's suggestion for enforcing these uncomfortable ideas? Freud thinks that honesty and truthfulness about our individual and collective human nature can perpetuate the transformation needed for maintaining the state of peace in the nations, at least as long as we can.
“It is, to be sure, a mystery why the collective individuals should in fact despise, hate and detest one another - every nation against every other - and even in times of peace. I cannot tell why that is so. It is just as though when it becomes a question of a number of people, not to say millions, all individual moral acquisitions are obliterated, and only the most primitive, the oldest, the crudest mental attitudes are left. It may be that only later stages in development will be able to make some change in this regrettable state of affairs. But a little more truthfulness and honesty on all sides - in the relations of men to one another and between them and their rulers - should also smooth the way for this transformation.�
II OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEATH
”‘Navigare necesse est, vivere non necesse.� (‘It is necessary to sail the seas, it is not necessary to live.�)�
War also brings out one of the most important topics of life, constantly ignored in mundane days - that death is the necessary outcome of life, the natural, unavoidable and undeniable. But contrary to the fact of death, we are accustomed to behaving otherwise as we show an unmistakable tendency to put death on the side, to eliminate it from life. Psychoanalytic school ventures on the assertion that it is indeed impossible to imagine our own death, and that unconsciously every one of us is convinced of his immortality. At the bottom, no one believes in his own death. That is probably a necessity for our psychological health, as the real realization of the fact of the death of ourselves and our loved ones would trigger paralyzing anxiety.
Here Freud lays out the beautiful idea about literature and theatre being compensation for what we have to lose in life. In art, we find people who “know how to die�.
”In the realm of fiction we find the plurality of lives which we need. We die with the hero with whom we have identified ourselves; yet we survive him, and are ready to die again just as safely with another hero.�
Our attitude towards death has a powerful effect on our lives. Freud argues that without, at least partial, realization of death, our lives become shallow and empty, impoverished, “it loses in interest, where the highest stake in the game of living, life itself, may not be risked.� “The tendency to exclude death from our calculations in life brings in its train many other renunciations and exclusions.�
But at war, our conventional treatment of death is swept away. Death can no longer be denied, war forces us to believe in it. Death is no longer a chance event as thousands die, sometimes in a single day. Man can no longer keep death at distance, as he can be hit by it at chance every day. But the closeness of death can also evoke eros, love, and passion for life. Life can, indeed, become interesting again, recover its full content. Paradoxically, death makes us feel alive, and that is a part of the reason war cannot be abolished. Here Freud repeats the notion he laid out in the first part of the essay - that it is essential for us the live our life truthfully, to leave nothing unexamined, not even our unconscious attitudes towards death.
“But war cannot be abolished; so long as the conditions of existence among nations are so different and their mutual repulsion so violent, there are bound to be wars. The question then arises: Is it not we who should give in, who should adapt ourselves to war? Should we not confess that in our civilized attitude towards death we are once again living psychologically beyond our means, and should we not rather turn back and recognize the truth? Would it not be better to give death the place in reality and in our thoughts which is its due, and to give a little more prominence to the unconscious attitude towards death which we have hitherto so carefully suppressed?�
Freud is also conscious of the fact that many will not find his, somewhat pessimistic ideas comforting nor even valuable. He concludes his essay in this manner:
“This hardly seems an advance to higher achievement, but rather in some respects a backward step - a regression; but it has the advantage of taking the truth more into account, and of making life more tolerable for us once again.
To tolerate life remains, after all, the first duty of all living beings. Illusion becomes valueless if it makes this harder for us.�
September 22, 2022
interesting perspective on the balance between war and injustice - and how society 'weights' that balance even as the scales start to break down even as the individual is forced to make progressively violent choices - that will destroy any hope of reconciliation. Seems to happen all over the world - time and time again.
March 3, 2018
تحمست لقراءة الكتاب باعتباره يتحدث عن الأساس النفسي للحرب والموت وخاصةً أننا لازلنا نعيش الحرب ونتائجها حتى الآن.
أولًا الترجمة كانت ضعيفة للغاية، مفككة وتقريبًا حرفية، كان الكتاب مفهومًا لكن الترجمة تلك أضافت بعض الصعوبات أثناء قراءته.
بالنسبة لمحتوى الكتاب فهو يحتوي على 7 مقالات تعبّر عن آراء فرويد عن الحرب والموت، لكن مع الأسف لم تجب معظمها عن أفكاري وتساؤلاتي. هناك مقالين فقط يستحقان القراءة أو بالأحرى قدما معلومات ممنهجة بشكل جيد وهي الحداد والسوداوية ورسالة فرويد لأينشتاين ردًا على سؤاله بشأن كيفية التغلب على الحرب.
أولًا الترجمة كانت ضعيفة للغاية، مفككة وتقريبًا حرفية، كان الكتاب مفهومًا لكن الترجمة تلك أضافت بعض الصعوبات أثناء قراءته.
بالنسبة لمحتوى الكتاب فهو يحتوي على 7 مقالات تعبّر عن آراء فرويد عن الحرب والموت، لكن مع الأسف لم تجب معظمها عن أفكاري وتساؤلاتي. هناك مقالين فقط يستحقان القراءة أو بالأحرى قدما معلومات ممنهجة بشكل جيد وهي الحداد والسوداوية ورسالة فرويد لأينشتاين ردًا على سؤاله بشأن كيفية التغلب على الحرب.
December 1, 2020
كيف لكتاب يتكلم عن الحرب و الموت ان يكون بهذا المتعة
بالحقيقة لم احب الآراء الخاصة بجزئية الحرب فهي مثل
فلسفة برتراند راسل الذي يرى ان الحرب التي تقام من
الدول الأوربية مباركة والتي تقوم بها دول الشرق شريرة
و مقولة الحرب لابد منها لا لا اتفق أبداً لو عاش فرويد
و راسل الى الوقت الحالي لعارض ذلك ..
جزئية السوداوية هي اكثر المقالات إعجاباً ربما كان يقصد
الاكتئاب التي نتكلم عنها اليوم ..القضيب و النار هو اكثر
شطحة تطرق اليها الكاتب لكن أظن أني فهمت مقصده
رغم ان عابه التكرار و ضرب الأمثلة
بالحقيقة لم احب الآراء الخاصة بجزئية الحرب فهي مثل
فلسفة برتراند راسل الذي يرى ان الحرب التي تقام من
الدول الأوربية مباركة والتي تقوم بها دول الشرق شريرة
و مقولة الحرب لابد منها لا لا اتفق أبداً لو عاش فرويد
و راسل الى الوقت الحالي لعارض ذلك ..
جزئية السوداوية هي اكثر المقالات إعجاباً ربما كان يقصد
الاكتئاب التي نتكلم عنها اليوم ..القضيب و النار هو اكثر
شطحة تطرق اليها الكاتب لكن أظن أني فهمت مقصده
رغم ان عابه التكرار و ضرب الأمثلة
November 9, 2015
ان يراودك السؤال ويدخلك بالحيرة والتضارب
ان تبحث عن ماهية السؤال والجواب
ان تعثر على جواب لتساؤل قديم
وتنفتح عليك تساؤلات اكثر!
September 14, 2020
"عالم النفس"
بالمفهوم الحديث
عليه أن يكتب بالمنهجيّة العلميّة
ويجمع البيانات الغزيرة الموثّقة
ويبني عليها استنتاجاته
أمّا فرويد فكان يتبعه حدسه
الذي غذّاه بآلاف الحالات لمرضاه
وآلاف الساعات التأمليّة والبحثيّة
عدم تأطيره بالمنهج العلمي التجريبي
أكسبته شجاعةً فكريّة تصلّ حدّ الجرأة
وجعلته يصرف النظريّات من كيسه؛ جدعنة
نصف نظريّات تنطلق من هواجس المواليد
والأطفال قبل سنّ القدرة على التفكير الواعي
فيزعم لهم مشاعر وهواجس لم يخبروه بها
ويبني عليها نظريّات هائلة في تفسي كلّ شيء
نظريّات لا يستطيع أحد في العالم نقضها
ولا إثباتها، لأن الرضّع لا يتكلّمون
ثمّ انطلق يتخيّل حكايات الإنسان البدائيّ
وينسج عشرات القصص الفانتازيّة الغريبة
وكأنه جدّة تحكي الأساطير لأحفادها عند النوم
لكنّ الجدّة تقف عند هذا الحدّ ولا تنظّر عن الإنسان
أمّا فرويد فيبني على التاريخ المزوّر للبشريّة
عشرات التفسيرات التي يعتبرها حقائق علميّة
وهذين الأمرين
الزعم على الأطفال والتاريخ القديم
يجعلان قيمة الكتاب منخفضة
أما محورة الوجود الإنسانيّ كلّه حول الجنس
فهي العقدة التي لم يضمّها هو لقائمة العقد النفسيّة
مبالغات غريبة تنكرها في أعماق نفسك السحيقة
وتعرف من نفسك ضرورةً عدم وجودها
وحتّى لا أطيل أكثر
الكتاب مثير
فيه ملاحظات دقيقة للإنسان
ومعالجات عميقة للدوافع
وتخبّطات في ظلام الأرض
بعيدًا عن أنوار الهدى
بالمفهوم الحديث
عليه أن يكتب بالمنهجيّة العلميّة
ويجمع البيانات الغزيرة الموثّقة
ويبني عليها استنتاجاته
أمّا فرويد فكان يتبعه حدسه
الذي غذّاه بآلاف الحالات لمرضاه
وآلاف الساعات التأمليّة والبحثيّة
عدم تأطيره بالمنهج العلمي التجريبي
أكسبته شجاعةً فكريّة تصلّ حدّ الجرأة
وجعلته يصرف النظريّات من كيسه؛ جدعنة
نصف نظريّات تنطلق من هواجس المواليد
والأطفال قبل سنّ القدرة على التفكير الواعي
فيزعم لهم مشاعر وهواجس لم يخبروه بها
ويبني عليها نظريّات هائلة في تفسي كلّ شيء
نظريّات لا يستطيع أحد في العالم نقضها
ولا إثباتها، لأن الرضّع لا يتكلّمون
ثمّ انطلق يتخيّل حكايات الإنسان البدائيّ
وينسج عشرات القصص الفانتازيّة الغريبة
وكأنه جدّة تحكي الأساطير لأحفادها عند النوم
لكنّ الجدّة تقف عند هذا الحدّ ولا تنظّر عن الإنسان
أمّا فرويد فيبني على التاريخ المزوّر للبشريّة
عشرات التفسيرات التي يعتبرها حقائق علميّة
وهذين الأمرين
الزعم على الأطفال والتاريخ القديم
يجعلان قيمة الكتاب منخفضة
أما محورة الوجود الإنسانيّ كلّه حول الجنس
فهي العقدة التي لم يضمّها هو لقائمة العقد النفسيّة
مبالغات غريبة تنكرها في أعماق نفسك السحيقة
وتعرف من نفسك ضرورةً عدم وجودها
وحتّى لا أطيل أكثر
الكتاب مثير
فيه ملاحظات دقيقة للإنسان
ومعالجات عميقة للدوافع
وتخبّطات في ظلام الأرض
بعيدًا عن أنوار الهدى
March 31, 2017
Probably the most interesting thing I've read by Freud. It starts off giving a tepid defense of Germany during ww1, and an anti-war shpiel, which sounds both libertarian-humanist and reactionary-revisionist-nationalist to modern ears. Then goes on to discuss death itself and how we think about it, from a number of different perspectives. Death in war vs death in normal life. Death of a loved one which traumatizes us, vs other deaths which we don't really care about it. Our own death which we refuse to seriously consider. And then perhaps some more controversial things. The unconscious desire to kill under certain conditions. And perhaps to die. He of course largely connects the way we think about death to the way in which primitive man deals with it. They, he thinks, just want to kill things which inhibit them from fulfilling their natural human impulses. So our instincts drive us to hate and kill and thats just how it is. Yet, we dont like it when certain specific people die, so we act like death itself is bad. So theres some kind of contradiction there. Which comes to a fine point when you consider war. Blahblah.
June 14, 2018
"The very emphasis of the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' makes it certain that we spring from an endless ancestry of murderers for whom the lust for killing was in the blood, as possibly it is to this day with ourselves"
In the first section on war, Freud, using psychoanalysis, reflects on society's disillusionment with WW1, noting the hypocrisies of nation states, which demonise the Subaltern and the enemy, controlling the individual and forcing him to fight and die, whilst repressing him and monopolising resources.
In the second section Freud moves on to discuss death, religion and the illusions we create around death. Here we see a precursor to Freud's later work 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', a key work which focuses on the instinctual death drive. Freud's theorises that death isn't contained in the unconscious. The Unconscious id is concerned only with pleasure, and since thoughts or acceptance of death would prevent the animistic spirit, the unconscious rejects death (it doesn't repress it, the belief simply isn't there). It is this bizarre relationship with death that causes us to imagine ghosts and demons, afterlives and such. We cannot imagine 'nothingness', we as humans are naturally destructive and pleasure seeking, and our own death would be evolutionary counterproductive, therefore it does not compute. Arising from this are a strange set of fetishisms around death and the deceased, but underlying it are instinctual death wishes and a misunderstanding, by the Unconscious of death.
Freud's thoughts on War certainly pale in comparison to his thoughts on death, but both are insightful, and offer another great instalment of Freud's sociological and cultural critique. There are a couple of problems with Freud's theorising, regardless of how attractive and useful it is. He relies heavily on an appeal to nature fallacy, and he cannot move from his fixed idea of human nature. Rather than seeing human nature as flexible, he maintains the view that the Unconscious has not just animalistic and human instincts, but fixed 'instinctual impulses' which is problematic, and brought into question by rivalling anthropologies like Engels' and more modern takes such as Chris Ryan's work on sexuality (compared to this work, influenced largely by Freud's earlier 'Totem and Taboo').
There can be ways of reconciliation, but these must be added in.
Nonetheless, a great work by Freud.
In the first section on war, Freud, using psychoanalysis, reflects on society's disillusionment with WW1, noting the hypocrisies of nation states, which demonise the Subaltern and the enemy, controlling the individual and forcing him to fight and die, whilst repressing him and monopolising resources.
In the second section Freud moves on to discuss death, religion and the illusions we create around death. Here we see a precursor to Freud's later work 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', a key work which focuses on the instinctual death drive. Freud's theorises that death isn't contained in the unconscious. The Unconscious id is concerned only with pleasure, and since thoughts or acceptance of death would prevent the animistic spirit, the unconscious rejects death (it doesn't repress it, the belief simply isn't there). It is this bizarre relationship with death that causes us to imagine ghosts and demons, afterlives and such. We cannot imagine 'nothingness', we as humans are naturally destructive and pleasure seeking, and our own death would be evolutionary counterproductive, therefore it does not compute. Arising from this are a strange set of fetishisms around death and the deceased, but underlying it are instinctual death wishes and a misunderstanding, by the Unconscious of death.
Freud's thoughts on War certainly pale in comparison to his thoughts on death, but both are insightful, and offer another great instalment of Freud's sociological and cultural critique. There are a couple of problems with Freud's theorising, regardless of how attractive and useful it is. He relies heavily on an appeal to nature fallacy, and he cannot move from his fixed idea of human nature. Rather than seeing human nature as flexible, he maintains the view that the Unconscious has not just animalistic and human instincts, but fixed 'instinctual impulses' which is problematic, and brought into question by rivalling anthropologies like Engels' and more modern takes such as Chris Ryan's work on sexuality (compared to this work, influenced largely by Freud's earlier 'Totem and Taboo').
There can be ways of reconciliation, but these must be added in.
Nonetheless, a great work by Freud.
April 11, 2024
و فروید که هر چه زمان میگذرد� بیشتر به نبوغ و بینش ژرفش پی میبری�. او در این جستار، باز هم از سرشت انسان رمزگشایی میکن� و چشمانداز� برای فهم خشونت بشر پیش رویما� میگذار�.
January 13, 2018
Caducità o due pagine che riluciono
Due paginette al centro di un libercolo molto corto, letto soltanto, credo, da chi ha specifico interesse psicanalitico.
Ma quelle due paginette sono un diamante.
Certo mi interesso da sempre alla psicanalisi. Ma diciamo pure che il tema del vuoto e le distinzioni tra il vuoto risentito dal depresso paranoide, distinto dallo schizioide, il quale non ha niente a che vedere con il narcisista...possono essere davvero indigeste. E i conflitti tra il Sè e l'Io? per non parlare delle profonde differenze tra la delusione e la disillusione...Ma se lasciamo tutto questo da parte e leggiamo il breve testo di Freud, tutto si illumina. Si può gustare sin dall'inizio il suo brano:
"Non molto tempo fa , in compagnia di un amico silenzioso e di un poeta già famoso nonostante la sua giovane età, feci una passeggiata in una contrada estiva in piena fioritura. Il poeta ammirava la bellezza della natura intorno a noi ma non ne traeva gioia. Lo turbava il pensiero che tutta quella bellezza era destinata a perire, che col sopraggiungere dell'inverno sarebbe scomparsa: come del resto ogni bellezza umana, come tutto ciò che di bello e di nobile gli uomini hanno creato o potranno creare. Tutto ciò che egli avrebbe altrimenti amato e ammirato gli sembrava svilito dalla caducità a cui era destinato."
Da qui, in pochi paragrafi passiamo alla riflessione sul godimento nel suo rapporto con il tempo, al senso di lutto e all'investimento libidico nella vita e, infine, alla condizione nella quale, momentaneamente, la civiltà precipita a seguito della guerra.
Pagine dense, intense nella lettura odierna, che pongono la domanda: "Ma quegli altri beni, ora perduti, hanno perso davvero per noi il loro valore, perché si sono dimostrati così precari e incapaci di resistere?"
Freud non è soltanto un grande pensatore, un grande scienziato, un grande filosofo, per me è, innnanzittutto, un grande scrittore.
Due paginette al centro di un libercolo molto corto, letto soltanto, credo, da chi ha specifico interesse psicanalitico.
Ma quelle due paginette sono un diamante.
Certo mi interesso da sempre alla psicanalisi. Ma diciamo pure che il tema del vuoto e le distinzioni tra il vuoto risentito dal depresso paranoide, distinto dallo schizioide, il quale non ha niente a che vedere con il narcisista...possono essere davvero indigeste. E i conflitti tra il Sè e l'Io? per non parlare delle profonde differenze tra la delusione e la disillusione...Ma se lasciamo tutto questo da parte e leggiamo il breve testo di Freud, tutto si illumina. Si può gustare sin dall'inizio il suo brano:
"Non molto tempo fa , in compagnia di un amico silenzioso e di un poeta già famoso nonostante la sua giovane età, feci una passeggiata in una contrada estiva in piena fioritura. Il poeta ammirava la bellezza della natura intorno a noi ma non ne traeva gioia. Lo turbava il pensiero che tutta quella bellezza era destinata a perire, che col sopraggiungere dell'inverno sarebbe scomparsa: come del resto ogni bellezza umana, come tutto ciò che di bello e di nobile gli uomini hanno creato o potranno creare. Tutto ciò che egli avrebbe altrimenti amato e ammirato gli sembrava svilito dalla caducità a cui era destinato."
Da qui, in pochi paragrafi passiamo alla riflessione sul godimento nel suo rapporto con il tempo, al senso di lutto e all'investimento libidico nella vita e, infine, alla condizione nella quale, momentaneamente, la civiltà precipita a seguito della guerra.
Pagine dense, intense nella lettura odierna, che pongono la domanda: "Ma quegli altri beni, ora perduti, hanno perso davvero per noi il loro valore, perché si sono dimostrati così precari e incapaci di resistere?"
Freud non è soltanto un grande pensatore, un grande scienziato, un grande filosofo, per me è, innnanzittutto, un grande scrittore.
September 7, 2019
أبحاث -مقالات- لسيجموند فرويد في الفترة ما بين عامي ١٩١٥ وو١٩٣٨ ترجمعها سمير كرم عن الترجمة الإنجليزية، تعرض ظواهر متعلقة بالحروب والموت وما يصحبهم من مشاكل نفسية، باستثناء آخر ثلاثة مقالات فقد حدت عن ذلك وأراها متناسقة أكثر مع الأبحاث الجنسية لفرويد.
الترجمة جيدة جدا والمادة المعروضة مناسبة لغير الدارسين أمثالي، والحقيقة أنني أهتم جدا بكل ما يدور حول الموت والفقد فأمتعني مقاليّ: التحليل النفسي وأعصبة الحرب، الحداد والسوداوية ووجدت فيهما ردودا فلسفيا على أسئلة قديمة لديّ.
أما المقالين اﻷولي�: أفكار ﻷزمن� الحرب والموت، لماذا الحرب؟ فقد عرضا لي تحليلا لكل ما يدور في العالم من صراعات وثورات حالية، وكأنه في طريقه لحرب عالمية كهاتين اللتين دارت حولهما المقالات، هذا إن لم نعتبر ما نواجهه الآن حربا عالما متقدة!
أزعجني أثناء قراءتي كثرة الجمل الاعتراضية، فكثيرا ما كنت أتوه عن الجملة الأصلية وأعيد الفقرة من بدايتها مرارا حتى أحسن تنسيقها في مخي.
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القراءة الأولى للكتاب، تمت في جلسات متفرقة خلال شهرين، وأنوي العودة للمقالين الذين ذكرت تعلقي بهما.
الترجمة جيدة جدا والمادة المعروضة مناسبة لغير الدارسين أمثالي، والحقيقة أنني أهتم جدا بكل ما يدور حول الموت والفقد فأمتعني مقاليّ: التحليل النفسي وأعصبة الحرب، الحداد والسوداوية ووجدت فيهما ردودا فلسفيا على أسئلة قديمة لديّ.
أما المقالين اﻷولي�: أفكار ﻷزمن� الحرب والموت، لماذا الحرب؟ فقد عرضا لي تحليلا لكل ما يدور في العالم من صراعات وثورات حالية، وكأنه في طريقه لحرب عالمية كهاتين اللتين دارت حولهما المقالات، هذا إن لم نعتبر ما نواجهه الآن حربا عالما متقدة!
أزعجني أثناء قراءتي كثرة الجمل الاعتراضية، فكثيرا ما كنت أتوه عن الجملة الأصلية وأعيد الفقرة من بدايتها مرارا حتى أحسن تنسيقها في مخي.
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القراءة الأولى للكتاب، تمت في جلسات متفرقة خلال شهرين، وأنوي العودة للمقالين الذين ذكرت تعلقي بهما.
March 2, 2019
What's good about this essay dating back to the breakout of WWI is that it's one of the very first writings addressing the problem or the suffusing case of disillusionment at that time which became the key emotion or state of being and mind that people in Europe were suffering from; it is also one of the elemental features that spread all over works of Modernist Literature.
It was interesting to take Freud's look into account and see the war through his perspective since I'm writing a lengthy and detailed essay about all that.
A very good read.
It was interesting to take Freud's look into account and see the war through his perspective since I'm writing a lengthy and detailed essay about all that.
A very good read.
December 9, 2024
2.5 🌟
زیگموند فروید در این کتاب به بررسی روانشناسی و نگرش اجتماعی نسبت به جنگ و مرگ پرداخته.
تأملاتی درباره� مرگ و جنگ در ججاو� بهعنوا� دو مقاله، با عنوانهای� ناامیدیها� جنگ و نگرشمان به مرگ چاپ شدند. که بعده� در یک کتاب منتشر شدند!
در این کتاب ماهیت جنگ و تأثیرش بر انسان و تمدن، ناامیدی از تمدن و اخلاق، غریزهها� انسانی در دورهها� بحرانی، خشونت سرکوب شده که در جنگ شکوفا میشه، نگرش انسان به مرگ خودش و دیگران چه در زمان جنگ و چه قبل از آن، انکار مرگ خودش، ارتباط جنگ و فرهنگ، نقش روانشناسی در جنگ و مرگ بررسی شده.
فروید این مقاله رو در پاسخ به بحرانها� تاثیرات روانی و اجتماعی ججاو� بر مردم و جامعه نوشته و به این پرسش که چرا جنگ با اینکه تمدن و جامعه پیشرفت میکنن� باز اتفاق میافت� پاسخ داده و تلاش میکن� از طریق روانکاو� دلیل رفتارهای مردم رو در مواجهه با جنگ و مرگ توضیح بده!
علاوه بر اینکه فروید در این کتاب تحلیل روانشناسی دقیقی داشته یا دیدگاه جدیدی درباره� مرگ داشته و ممکنه هنوز هم این کتاب برای درک جنگ و پیامدها� موثر باشه ولی به تفاوتها� فرهنگی توجه چندانی نداشته، نگاه تخریبی به انسان و تمدن داره، کمتر روی شواهد تجربی مانور داده شده!
این دومین کتابی بود که از فروید خوندم و به نظرم کتاب اولی، چرا جنگ؟، برای من کتاب بهتری بود.
زیگموند فروید در این کتاب به بررسی روانشناسی و نگرش اجتماعی نسبت به جنگ و مرگ پرداخته.
تأملاتی درباره� مرگ و جنگ در ججاو� بهعنوا� دو مقاله، با عنوانهای� ناامیدیها� جنگ و نگرشمان به مرگ چاپ شدند. که بعده� در یک کتاب منتشر شدند!
در این کتاب ماهیت جنگ و تأثیرش بر انسان و تمدن، ناامیدی از تمدن و اخلاق، غریزهها� انسانی در دورهها� بحرانی، خشونت سرکوب شده که در جنگ شکوفا میشه، نگرش انسان به مرگ خودش و دیگران چه در زمان جنگ و چه قبل از آن، انکار مرگ خودش، ارتباط جنگ و فرهنگ، نقش روانشناسی در جنگ و مرگ بررسی شده.
فروید این مقاله رو در پاسخ به بحرانها� تاثیرات روانی و اجتماعی ججاو� بر مردم و جامعه نوشته و به این پرسش که چرا جنگ با اینکه تمدن و جامعه پیشرفت میکنن� باز اتفاق میافت� پاسخ داده و تلاش میکن� از طریق روانکاو� دلیل رفتارهای مردم رو در مواجهه با جنگ و مرگ توضیح بده!
علاوه بر اینکه فروید در این کتاب تحلیل روانشناسی دقیقی داشته یا دیدگاه جدیدی درباره� مرگ داشته و ممکنه هنوز هم این کتاب برای درک جنگ و پیامدها� موثر باشه ولی به تفاوتها� فرهنگی توجه چندانی نداشته، نگاه تخریبی به انسان و تمدن داره، کمتر روی شواهد تجربی مانور داده شده!
این دومین کتابی بود که از فروید خوندم و به نظرم کتاب اولی، چرا جنگ؟، برای من کتاب بهتری بود.
May 8, 2012
مجموعة مقالات لعالم النفس النمساوي سيجموند فرويد تبدأ بسلسلة رسائل متبادلة بينه وبين البرت اينشتاين إبان الحرب العالمية الأولى، ولعله يريد التساؤل: كيف صنعنا كل هذه الحضارة، ثم ها نحن ذا نتصرف بكل هذه الوحشيّة..؟
"إنه من اليسير للغاية جعل الناس متحمسين للحرب"
يقول فرويد
ثم يُردف: "وهذا يقطع نصف الطريق للالتقاء مع جهود مثيري الحروب".. ولعله بهذه الكلمات المقتضبة يصف لنا الكثير..
ويستمر الكتاب في عرض مجموعة من المقالات ذات العلاقة، وغير ذات العلاقة في الموضوع ذاته؛ إنه يتحدث أيضا عن السوداوية "الميلانخونيلا" بوصفها مظهرا من مظاهر الموت..
هذا الكتاب يتطلب من القارئ أن يكون على إلمام بنظريات فرويد في التحليل النفسي، وأن يكون على دراية واسعة بلغته ومصطلحاته على حد سواء.. إنه كتاب صغير يعطي الكثير.. ولكنه يتطلب الكثير أيضاً..
ي.أ
"إنه من اليسير للغاية جعل الناس متحمسين للحرب"
يقول فرويد
ثم يُردف: "وهذا يقطع نصف الطريق للالتقاء مع جهود مثيري الحروب".. ولعله بهذه الكلمات المقتضبة يصف لنا الكثير..
ويستمر الكتاب في عرض مجموعة من المقالات ذات العلاقة، وغير ذات العلاقة في الموضوع ذاته؛ إنه يتحدث أيضا عن السوداوية "الميلانخونيلا" بوصفها مظهرا من مظاهر الموت..
هذا الكتاب يتطلب من القارئ أن يكون على إلمام بنظريات فرويد في التحليل النفسي، وأن يكون على دراية واسعة بلغته ومصطلحاته على حد سواء.. إنه كتاب صغير يعطي الكثير.. ولكنه يتطلب الكثير أيضاً..
ي.أ
October 26, 2014
A two part review for a two part book.
The Disappointments of War. "[T]he state forbids [the citizen] to do wrong not because it wishes to do away with wrongdoing but because it wishes to monopolize it" � if only this sentence were to resonant with others the way it does with me.
Our Attitude Towards Death. May, when the time comes, some eulogy for me contain the first seven paragraphs of this work.
The Disappointments of War. "[T]he state forbids [the citizen] to do wrong not because it wishes to do away with wrongdoing but because it wishes to monopolize it" � if only this sentence were to resonant with others the way it does with me.
Our Attitude Towards Death. May, when the time comes, some eulogy for me contain the first seven paragraphs of this work.
August 12, 2016
مجموعة مقالات لفرويد مقال الحداد والسوداوية أفضلهم
كنت ��حتاجة تركيز أكثر وانا بقرأ الكتاب.
لو في فرصة أعيده تانى هعيد مقال الحداد والسوداوية الباقي مش شايفاه يستحق.
كنت ��حتاجة تركيز أكثر وانا بقرأ الكتاب.
لو في فرصة أعيده تانى هعيد مقال الحداد والسوداوية الباقي مش شايفاه يستحق.
August 3, 2021
"النظريات مثل اللغات...
نظريات حية، ونظريات ميتة.
والتحليل النفسي نظرية حية، بصرف النظر عن مدى موضوعيتها أو صدقها، بصرف النظر عن مدى علميتها."
نظريات حية، ونظريات ميتة.
والتحليل النفسي نظرية حية، بصرف النظر عن مدى موضوعيتها أو صدقها، بصرف النظر عن مدى علميتها."
July 13, 2021
While I have no strong opinion on Freud's reflections on war (I felt almost in a haze while reading them - now as if I hadven't remembered a word of it), I was quite impressed on his writings on death. The best impression made on me was by the quote:
Because isn't that exactly what's happening? When we confront the reality of death - or more like of losing a loved one - we confornt it with a great deal of pain, but after the initial realisation we seem to once again covince ourselves of the immortality of ourselves and our loved ones until we inevibitaly loose them.
Death is, of course, not deferred through our sensitiveness on the subject, and when it occurs we are always deeply affected, as if our expectations had been shattered. We regularly lay stress upon the unexpected causes of death, we speak of the accident, the infection, or advanced age, and thus betray our endeavor to debase death from a necessity to an accident. A large number of deaths seems unspeakably dreadful to us. We assume a special attitude towards the dead, something almost like admiration for one who has accomplished a very difficult feat. We suspend criticism of him, overlooking whatever wrongs he may have done, and issue the command, de mortuis nil nisi bene: we act as if we were justified in singing his praises at the funeral oration, and inscribe only what is to his advantage on the tombstone. This consideration for the dead, which he really no longer needs, is more important to us than the truth and to most of us, certainly, it is more important than consideration for the living.
Because isn't that exactly what's happening? When we confront the reality of death - or more like of losing a loved one - we confornt it with a great deal of pain, but after the initial realisation we seem to once again covince ourselves of the immortality of ourselves and our loved ones until we inevibitaly loose them.
February 6, 2024
I don’t know what I could rate this bc it’s really not about whether I agree with him (also who am I to agree or disagree with Freud lol), but I think the following variation of the widely known phrase “si vis pacem, para bellum� was flabbergastingly good:
“Si vis vitam, para mortem� - If you want to experience life, prepare yourself for death
“Si vis vitam, para mortem� - If you want to experience life, prepare yourself for death
Read
May 11, 2020Very interesting and depressing.
Read
January 10, 2020أنا إيه إلي جابني هنا :(
March 20, 2013
An early forerunner to Civilization and its discontents, in this pessimistic essay Freud dismisses the disillusionment felt at the outbreak of World War I as the (predictable) collapse of an illusion about the nature of civilization. For Freud, society had made up an unsustainable illusion about the nature of man, denying and repressing people´s true feelings about death. In particular, just beneath the veneer of civilization, the unconscious mind is, according to Freud, particularly liable to wish death to any object that thwarts its desires; thus its ambivalent attitude towards loved ones.
Throughout his life, Freud would come back to the idea of the death wish, struggling to place its importance in his theories. Was it simply a wish? Was it much more than that, Thanatos, a death or destructive instinct as important as and counterweighing Eros? What was its relationship to the ego and the libido? Was it an important weapon in the superego´s arsenal, to be used in threatening and carrying out self-punishment?
In this essay, Freud barely scratches at the surface of this idea; he intuits the importance of the death wish, argues at the strength with which is repressed and at the hypocrisy that entails politely downplaying it or pretending its non-existence and wonders at the extent to which such attitudes underlie civilization itself:
Throughout his life, Freud would come back to the idea of the death wish, struggling to place its importance in his theories. Was it simply a wish? Was it much more than that, Thanatos, a death or destructive instinct as important as and counterweighing Eros? What was its relationship to the ego and the libido? Was it an important weapon in the superego´s arsenal, to be used in threatening and carrying out self-punishment?
In this essay, Freud barely scratches at the surface of this idea; he intuits the importance of the death wish, argues at the strength with which is repressed and at the hypocrisy that entails politely downplaying it or pretending its non-existence and wonders at the extent to which such attitudes underlie civilization itself:
Thus there are many more hypocrites than truly civilized persons -indeed it is a debatable point whether a certain degree of civilized hypocrisy be not indispensabe for the maintenance of civilization...Freud clearly implies that we have to acknowledge the death wish to face reality:
Is it not for us to confess that in our civilized attitude towards death we are once more living psychologically beyond our means, and must reform and give death its due?but concludes stoicly and over-harshly:
If you would endure life, be prepared for death.Well worth reading.
April 28, 2022
✔️Published in 1918.
This is a noteworthy and thought-provoking treatise on ’s , and he does have some fascinating views:
Yet, the most thought-provoking statement makes is:
There are some other thoughts Freud presents:
This is a quick read, and a fascinating one at that.
🟣Kindle version.
This is a noteworthy and thought-provoking treatise on ’s , and he does have some fascinating views:
We have shown an unmistakable tendency to put death aside, to eliminate it from life. .
Our unconscious therefore does not believe in its own death; it acts as though it were immortal.
We have shown an unmistakable tendency to put death aside, to eliminate it from life.
The school of psychoanalysis could thus assert that at bottom no one believes in his own death, which amounts to saying: in the unconscious every one of us is convinced of his immortality.
Yet, the most thought-provoking statement makes is:
Si vis vitam, para mortem.
� If you wish life, prepare for death.
There are some other thoughts Freud presents:
"Man is seldom entirely good or evil, he is "good" on the whole in one respect and "evil" in another, or "good" under certain conditions, and decidedly "evil" under others."
"A state at war makes free use of every injustice, every act of violence, that would dishonor the individual.
"Races are roughly represented by the states they form and these states by the governments which guide them.".
This is a quick read, and a fascinating one at that.
🟣Kindle version.
December 5, 2014
"We remember the old saying:
Si vis pacem, para bellum. - If you wish peace, prepare for war.
The times call for a paraphrase:
Si vis vitam, para mortem. - If you wish life, prepare for death."
War and death, tied, entangled to their very essence until...
"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
Si vis pacem, para bellum. - If you wish peace, prepare for war.
The times call for a paraphrase:
Si vis vitam, para mortem. - If you wish life, prepare for death."
War and death, tied, entangled to their very essence until...
"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
October 10, 2012
أعتقد بأن رسالة فرويد لآينشتاين هي العمود الفقاري لهذا الكتاب، بقية المقالات لم تثر شغفي، وقد وجدت أن الترجمة ضعيفة.
February 9, 2013
دائما ما أوصي من يريد القراءة لمفكري الغرب أن يقرأ عنهم أفضل من القراءة لهم، بحكم أشياء كثيرة. إلا هذا المجنون فرويد فمن السهل فهم كتابته والتعامل معاها بل ونقدها.
October 18, 2014
فرويد يدفعك بعنف إلى التفكير ، علم النفس نعمة و متعة فى نفس الوقت .. عجبنى فى الكتاب طريقة طرح أفكاره الا أن الأفضل على الاطلاق هى جزء الرد على خطاب اينشتاين
November 26, 2021
I almost laughed out loud at his analysis of the Doctrine of Original Sin.
April 25, 2024
إنها سلسلة من المحاضرات والمقالات المتفرقة زمنياً ولكن المترابطة موضوعياً ، والتى جمعها الناشر بغرض عرض علاقة الحرب بمكونات وطبيعة النفس البشرية ، وكذلك عرض مفهوم ومنشأ الحرب من منظور التحليل النفسى . وفيها تظهر الحرب فى النهاية كنوع من النزعة التدميرية الموجهة نحو الخارج لاشعورياً فى الفرد ، أو كنوع من السادية ، وبالتالى فهى مرتبطة ليس بتاريخ الفرد فقط بل بتاريخ النوع البشرى ككل ، بما فيه من غرائز قديمة متصارعة بين بعضها البعض من جانب ( غرائز الموت والحياة ) ، وفى صراعها مع الواقع الخارجى بكل متطلباته وفروضه التى يواجهها الفرد من جانب آخر .
بالطبع يتشعب الحديث ويتداخل لفهم هذه الرؤية المتشابكة بين المكونات النفسية للفرد فى تفاعلها مع أحداث او مكونات تاريخها الشخصى بالإضافة الى مكونات الحاضر الذى يحياه كما مع مكونات تاريخ النوع البشرى . حيث يمر كلا التاريخين بسلسلة من المخاوف والمخاطر التى تنتج تفاعلاً حاداً بين القلق المصحوب خلال مواجهة السلطة الأعلى والكبت الذى يتبع هذه المواجهة على مختلف حدة كل منهم ، والذى يؤثر تبعا لشدته على حدة النزاع بين الغرائز المتضادة كما على مسار استغلال هذه الغرائز لمبدأ اللذة .
وفى رسالة ضمن مقالات الكتاب جاءت رداً من فرويد على رسالة وجهها اليه اينشتاين خلال الحرب الأولى يرد فرويد فى نهايتها - بعد شرح مطول - مجيباً على سؤال اينشتاين الأساسى عن كيفية انهاء الحروب البشرية ومدى امكانية ذلك ، ،مؤكداً أنه من غير الممكن أن تنتهى هذه الحروب وأن النزعة التدميرية السادية هى مكون أساسى للنفس البشرية فى علاقتها مع الخارج ، وكل ما يمكن فعله هو فهم طبيعتها وبالتالى فهم مثيراتها من أجل كفها بشكل نسبى ومؤقت ولكنها - كما لدى كل فرد - يمكن أن تنفجر فى اى لحظة بعد كبت شديد أو تعرض لمثير مفاجئ لم يكن فى الحسبان .
بالطبع يتشعب الحديث ويتداخل لفهم هذه الرؤية المتشابكة بين المكونات النفسية للفرد فى تفاعلها مع أحداث او مكونات تاريخها الشخصى بالإضافة الى مكونات الحاضر الذى يحياه كما مع مكونات تاريخ النوع البشرى . حيث يمر كلا التاريخين بسلسلة من المخاوف والمخاطر التى تنتج تفاعلاً حاداً بين القلق المصحوب خلال مواجهة السلطة الأعلى والكبت الذى يتبع هذه المواجهة على مختلف حدة كل منهم ، والذى يؤثر تبعا لشدته على حدة النزاع بين الغرائز المتضادة كما على مسار استغلال هذه الغرائز لمبدأ اللذة .
وفى رسالة ضمن مقالات الكتاب جاءت رداً من فرويد على رسالة وجهها اليه اينشتاين خلال الحرب الأولى يرد فرويد فى نهايتها - بعد شرح مطول - مجيباً على سؤال اينشتاين الأساسى عن كيفية انهاء الحروب البشرية ومدى امكانية ذلك ، ،مؤكداً أنه من غير الممكن أن تنتهى هذه الحروب وأن النزعة التدميرية السادية هى مكون أساسى للنفس البشرية فى علاقتها مع الخارج ، وكل ما يمكن فعله هو فهم طبيعتها وبالتالى فهم مثيراتها من أجل كفها بشكل نسبى ومؤقت ولكنها - كما لدى كل فرد - يمكن أن تنفجر فى اى لحظة بعد كبت شديد أو تعرض لمثير مفاجئ لم يكن فى الحسبان .
September 29, 2022
This short essay from Freud, only 12-pages or so, is by far one of his best psychoanalysis-beginner-friendly texts. Not only is it stylistically elegant and poignant, but it is also exceptionally accessible and relevant even today. I highly recommend this short essay to anyone who is at least somewhat interested in psychoanalysis. It will present a far better image of Freud than most of the internet and your high school AP Psychology course.
”In the realm of fiction we find the plurality of lives which we need. We die with the hero with whom we have identified ourselves; yet we survive him, and are ready to die again just as safely with another hero.�
4/5
”In the realm of fiction we find the plurality of lives which we need. We die with the hero with whom we have identified ourselves; yet we survive him, and are ready to die again just as safely with another hero.�
4/5
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