Prior to reading Freud, I had no knowledge of him. Maybe that\u2019s my fault for not being quite familiar with him or his writing styles, or his beliefs and what not.. but I didn\u2019t know anything about him really. With that being said, I did however, find that his writing style wasn\u2019t too difficult to read through. That he did bring up quite a few intriguing and interesting spins of particular topics. To be brutally honest here\u2026 I definitely expected some wordy, fancy, and elaborate essay of some sort, and the fact that this piece of writing actually appeared to be normal\u2014made reading Freud less daunting.<\/p>\n
In my opinion, Civilization and its Discontents was in my opinion, a pretty good read. I feel like I didn\u2019t really \u201cjive\u201d well with the other philosophical texts that we have read thus far, (Arts One made me rethink my desire to potentially major in Philosophy\u2026) but this one wasn\u2019t too bad for me to handle. I found that one most predominant concept here in Freud\u2019s essay, is repression to one\u2019s self.\u00a0 I found his opinions though perhaps a bit flawed or open to interpretation, were captivating to learn of.<\/p>\n
“The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In more depth, I found the way in which he described religion to be particularly fascinating to me. Having come from an immensely religious family, full of devote Catholics, and having gone to a Catholic school my entire life.. Freud\u2019s views on the subject of religion, and its impact and importance to people immediately struck my interest.\u00a0 Freud touches on the idea that religion, and the way we rely on it for different things\u2014be it to blame when things do not go our way, or as something to hold onto and believe in; to confide in. In spite of coming from, as I said, a pretty religious family\u2026 my\u00a0 brothers and I didn\u2019t really adopt that same devoutness I guess you could say. We are religious, but not nearly to the same extent that my mom and my relatives are. Essentially what I\u2019m saying, is that I am not practicing. However, (there\u2019s a point to this.. I swear!) when Freud discusses religion, it hits home. A religion is there to have belief in something, as a means of comfort\u2026 when times get a bit difficult, one\u2019s religion is their rock; their shelter. However, Freud states that religion, and belief in God, or a different religious figure as a mere fault of humanity; which is what screws us up as individuals. I don\u2019t really take what philosophers say to heart, but all in all, I did find his arguments overall (in spite of their flaws) to be pretty solid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prior to reading Freud, I had no knowledge of him. Maybe that\u2019s my fault for not being quite familiar with him or his writing styles, or his beliefs and what not.. but I didn\u2019t know anything about him really. With … Continue reading