Hey I found this on google Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus Instinct
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are through you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the houses of tomorrow, which you can not
visit, even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
Kahil Gibran
Freud is to Psychoanalysis what Socrates is to philosophy. The theory of psychoanalysis is primarily concerned with the development of the human personality; it was Freud who presumed that human personality is a tripartite system, consisting of the id, ego, and the superego. "The id is said to contain all the instinctual drives that seek immediate satisfaction and like a small child (they are said to operate on the "the pleasure principle"); the ego contains the conscious mental states, and its function is to perceive the real world and to decide how to act, mediating between the world and the id (it is governed by "the reality principle"). Whatever can become conscious is in the ego (although it also contains elements that remain unconscious), where as everything in the id is permanently unconscious. The superego is identified as a special part of the mind that contains the conscience, the moral norms acquired from parents and others who were influential in early childhood; though it belongs to the ego and shares its kind of psychological organization, the superego is also said to have an intimate connection with the id, for it can confront the ego with rules and prohibitions like a strict parent" (Leslie Stevenson & David L. Haberman 155). If at an early stage the child is exposed to an environment that consists of overly aggressive and dominant parents the development of that child’s superego may become a tad bit tyrannical, causing an adverse reaction within the psyche of that child. The result is the emergence of the Oedipus Complex. When the superego exerts an unhealthy tyrannical influence upon the psyche of the child burdening it with an immense amount of moral guilt and shame. The id will tend to lash out at the superego by expending a powerful gust of instinctual psychic energy directing it toward the ego. In an attempt to unconsciously encourage the ego to revolt against the extreme moral influence of the superego. Hypothetically speaking, it can be said in favor of the Oedipus complex, that it is in fact a equalizing agent that is hurled into the dynamics of the child’s psyche for the sole purpose of resolving an inner psychological conflict between the id and the superego. The priority of the Oedipus complex is to maintain a psychological equilibrium within the psychological constitution of the child’s psyche. This phenomenon can be likened to the emergence of certain circumstances that give to the hostility between a tyrannical governmental system and its residing populace, which can lead to a revolution to resolve the conflict between the government and its inhabitants. Calvin S. Hall , professor of psychology at Western Reserve University, illustrates this best when he writes: " The prohibitions of the consciences are the inhibitions or anti-cathexes which block the discharge of instinctual energy either directly in impulsive behavior and wish fulfillment, or indirectly by way of ego mechanisms. That is, the conscience opposes both the id and the ego, and tries to suspend the operation of the pleasure principle and the reality principle. A person who has a strong conscience is constantly on guard against immoral impulses. He spends so much of his energy for defense against the id that he does not have enough to perform useful and satisfying work. As a consequence, he becomes immobilized and lives a straitjacket existence." ( Hall 43 ) The author Calvin S. Hall is apparently attempting to convey to the reader the obvious fact that a progressive motion can only transpire within the sphere of a harmonious relationship between an organism and its necessary parts. For example, if my head and the upper portion of my body wish to travel in a specific direction and my legs wanted to travel in an entirely different direction, the confusion generated by these to opposing forces would virtually keep me at a stand still, preventing any progression in either direction.
At its worst, the Oedipus complex has conventionally been viewed as a pseudo-scientific absurdity lacking even a modicum of empirical evidence needed in order for it to be considered a legitimate scientific theory. Freud had this very criticism in mind when he had written: "So long as we trace the development from the final stage backwards, the connection appears continuous, and we feel we have gained an insight which is completely satisfactory or even exhaustive. But if we proceed the reverse way, if we start from the premises inferred from the analysis and try to follow these up to the final results, then we no longer get the impression of an inevitable sequence of events which could not be otherwise determined. We notice at once that there might have been another result, and that we might have been just as well able to understand and explain the latter. The synthesis is thus not so satisfactory as the analysis; in other words from knowledge of the premises we could not have foretold the nature of the result. It is very easy to account for this disturbing state of affairs. Even supposing that we thoroughly know the etiological factors that decide a given result, still we know them only qualitatively, and not in their relative strength. Some of them are so weak as to become suppressed by others, and therefore do not affect the final result. But we never know beforehand which of the determining factors will prove the weaker or the stronger. We only say at the end that those which succeeded must have been the stronger. Hence it is always possible by analysis to recognize the causation with certainty, whereas a prediction of it by synthesis is impossible." ( Hall 50 - 51 ) "What Freud is saying here is that because of the subtleties in the relative intensities of excitatory and inhibitory forces and because small changes in the intensities may produce large effects, psychology cannot be a predictive science. It can however, be a postdictive science in the sense that given a result it can look back and unearth the causes that produced the result." ( Hall 51)
There are numerous critiques which document what many consider to be serious discrepancies with the Freudian methodology of psychoanalysis. After a careful examination of such material, however, I found that none of those have attempted these critical analysis could seem to avoid the post hoc, ergo proper hoc fallacy. Furthermore, because of this I have taken the liberty to disregard any persons that wishes to argue in such a disreputable fashion. For example, in a book entitled The Freudian Fallacy Raymond Greene writes that he has heard "Freud described as ‘the greatest con man in history of medicine.’ This is unfair! He undoubtedly believed in the truth of his hypothesis when he first pronounced them, instanced by his RIDICULOUS theory of infantile sexuality. But, then why has Freud held sway for so long ? I think that all men faced with a mystery long for clarity. Mystery is a Bugbear that physicians abhor. They have been led astray by other GURUS than Freud, but this tendency they should resist. Of Sir William Osler, my old teacher, Alexander George Gibson said, ‘ I have never known any doctor say more often I don’t know.’ This is the beginning of wisdom. Freud had a scientific training that should have protected him from the prevalent medical vice of explaining one mystery by the substitution of another. I think Miss Thornton’s view, so ably set forth in this book, that the answer lay in his addiction to COCAINE has much to recommend it." ( E. M. Thornton ) Rhetoric of this type is a direct violation of the rules of argumentation and, moreover, it is indecent! Arguments like this, lack the objective view of a critical analysis and tend to mistake a subjective analysis for an objective one. This sort of error is relatively an easy one to detect, for you can always spot a faulty argument by the type of rhetoric it uses. Usually, the rhetoric is affected with personal biases and disagreements, and is generally an appeal to the existing moral code, which I label an appeal to morality. Ironically enough, Freud was quite aware of this phenomenon and has categorized it as a particular ego personality type. "The ego-ideal strives for perfection . Its energy is invested in cahecting ideals which are the internalized representatives of the parent’s moral values . These ideals represent perfectionistic object-choices. A person who has a lot of his energy tied up in the ego-ideal is idealistic and high minded. His choice of objects and interest is determined more by their moralistic than by their realistic values. He is more concerned with differentiating the good from the bad than he is with distinguishing between the true and the false. For such a person , virtue is more important than truth."( Hall 44) An individual such as this who displays this particular behavioral pattern is unconsciously the slave of his superego. By identifying with the ethical and moral construct of the superego, and in adhering to the ethical- idea or frame work which the superego is composed of, the ego of that child experiences an intense feeling of pride. It is important to keep in mind that the superego is the internalized moral precepts of the parents and just like a parent it is able to reward, as well as punish. With this in mind, the superego can and will confer upon the ego a strong sensation of pride, in return, for satiating the will of the superego.
Deriving its name and essence from the Hellenic tragedy Oedipus Rex, Freud was inspired by the essential patricide and incest motif to later incorporate it to symbolically represent the transitional dynamic of the "ego" overcoming the "superego." Written by the Hellenic poet Sophocles who was born outside of Athens at Colonus, in 496 B. C. Oedipus Rex the play is undeniably acknowledged as one of the greatest of all the tragic dramas of the honored tradition of Greek theater. In this celebrated Greek drama, Oedipus unknowably kills his father and marries his mother. By the advent of psychoanalysis ( the study of unconscious aspect of the human psyche) Freud postulated that written into the biological constitution of the male child is the innate drive to kill his father and sleep with his mother. For many, the Freudian presupposition of the inherent existence of the Oedipus Complex is an absurdity and because it fails to coincide with the extant of our moral conditioning, we tend to unconsciously resist the probability of this Freudian concept. Historically, this should be expected, for it has always been customary of human beings to reject any scientific hypothesis that did not confirm with what we had already considered to be the truth of the matter. For example, the imprisonment and excommunication of Galileo by the Catholic church for asserting that the Sun, and not the Earth was the center of the universe.
The Oedipus complex in its entirety, is the inherent transitional drive of the human organism from childhood toward adulthood and because of this it should not be feared. Freud postulated that human beings were being dominated by two basic instinct: Eros (the Sexual drive or life force) and Thanathos (the death force, which explains the phenomenon of warfare) Eros is located on various parts of the body categorized as erogenous zones. According to his theory the erogenous zones are very important to the cognitive development of the child. Cognitive development consist of three stages, 1. The oral stage,2. The anal stage, and lastly the phallic stage. At the advent of the phallic stage the male child becomes fixated on his own penis. He discovers a great sense of pleasure through masturbation and so it becomes of great interest to him. A crucial development occurs during the phallic stage and the Oedipus complex begins to emerge. The Oedipus complex according to Freud, is a period of time during cognitive development when the male child becomes sexually attracted to his mother, to the point of obssesion. Furthermore, he begins to view his father as a potential rival competing for the affection of the mother. After the child realizes that the father is much to powerful as an adversary, reality sets in and the child now begins to understand the impossibility of his sexual obssesion with his mother is. As a result of this realization the Oedipus complex is supposed to be officially resolve. But, is this exactly the case? Or must the Oedipus complex continue in till the superego is utterly destroyed? Though I have asked the reader these questions, I do not wish to expound upon them now, but I plan to return these questions later on in the essay.
As I have already mentioned the Oedipus complex is a transitional dynamic inherent in the human organism. Since its inception Freud had searched rigorously for some biological evidence which would support his presupposition of the existence of the id. Unfortunately, for Freud that he is unable to witness the fruition of his search, but with the advent of the gene and our scientific understanding of genetics, the biological evidence needed to support Freudian id has been found. The gene is defined as a basic unit of heredity, or a unit of biological history. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, human beings are also descended from animal ancestors. " Apart from this very general argument for the mechanism of evolution, there is much direct empirical evidence for our common ancestry with other animals. Comparative anatomy shows the human body to have the same general plan as other vertebrates - e. G. Four limbs with five digits on each. The human embryo goes through stages of development in which resembles those of various lower forms of life. In the adult human body there are remnants of such lower forms -e.g. Vestigial tail." ( Stevenson & Haberman 209-210) The Oedipus complex is a vestigial trait that we as human beings have inherited from our primordial animal ancestry. Freud understood this intuitively, when he had determined that the urge to kill the father and have sex with the mother was inherent in the male child’s biology. A behaviorist by the name of Lorenz has made the argument that evolution has equipped certain species with a "ritualization" of fighting for the production biological advantages to insure the survival of that particular species. The Oedipus complex exist to push the child toward self discovery.
At the advent of the Oedipus complex the child becomes familiar with himself and also with his attraction toward the opposite sex. In other words, as I have stated previously that the Oedipus complex is a transitional dynamic, it is the beginning of the child becoming a husband and a father himself.
Previously, in this essay the question was ask is the Oedipus complex resolved when the child realizes the futility of his sexual obsession with his mother, or must it continue in till the superego is utterly destroyed? If the child is ever to become a true individual possessing an identity of his own, the superego of that child must be overcome. In order for this to happen the superego must become dormant. It can no longer have a positive or negative effect on the individual’s psyche, especially if that individual is no longer a child. When properly interpreted for its symbolic meaning, the Oedipus complex is the spiritual murder of the superego so that the child can become the father of himself. He must become independent of the superego’s influence and create his own moral code. It is extremely important, that the individual play a free an active role in recreating, or restructuring his own personality. In the end, the individual must discover and become himself. The Oedipus complex is the Oedipal project, a project that sums up the basic problem of the child’s life: Whether he will be a passive object of fate, an appendage of others, a plaything of the world or whether he will be an active center within himself - whether he will control his own destiny with his own powers or not. ( Becker 35-36)
Another Freudian presupposition which has been vindicated from the scientific data that has been collected over the previous years, (pertaining to the nature of genetics) has been his presupposition that humans are purely sexual beings. The human gene, which the author believes to be what Freud referred to as the id, it would seem has programmed humanity with one central and very important command. Transmit the code! This simply means engage in as much sexual intercourse that is humanly possible. In fact, what we now understand about genetics, this Freudian presupposition is undeniable. According to what the author has read concerning genetics is that the gene, it would seems keeps us alive long enough to make a replication of itself. This is why roughly after the ages of thirty to forty-five years of age, we begin to decline sexually. And this is why, late in our lives the human body will tend to develop ailments such as cancer and menopause. It is assumed that this occurs, because we are no longer any use to the gene.
In closing, the author would like to comment upon the unjustified way in which we have criticized the Freudian hypothesis. The Freudian model of the human personality will forever haunt our civilized world, there is no escaping this. As the author has argued previously in this essay, that the major reason behind the Freudian controversy has been our inability to accept his hypothesis based upon the extant moral code. This is indecent and above all foolish. If we ever expect to discover the truth concerning our existence, we must cultivate the ability to see beyond our moral idea. Ultimately, we must learn to come to grips with the fact that our moral code is nothing more than an abstract idea, that is no more real than the childish belief in Santa Claus. If we wish to truly understand anything we must let go of what we think to be the TRUTH, and approach reality with an open mind, as well as an open heart. This essay is dedicated to great and brilliant man like Sigmund Freud, who’s genius has been bastardized, and men who have been intellectually crucified.
By google hi buddy
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are through you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the houses of tomorrow, which you can not
visit, even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
Kahil Gibran
Freud is to Psychoanalysis what Socrates is to philosophy. The theory of psychoanalysis is primarily concerned with the development of the human personality; it was Freud who presumed that human personality is a tripartite system, consisting of the id, ego, and the superego. "The id is said to contain all the instinctual drives that seek immediate satisfaction and like a small child (they are said to operate on the "the pleasure principle"); the ego contains the conscious mental states, and its function is to perceive the real world and to decide how to act, mediating between the world and the id (it is governed by "the reality principle"). Whatever can become conscious is in the ego (although it also contains elements that remain unconscious), where as everything in the id is permanently unconscious. The superego is identified as a special part of the mind that contains the conscience, the moral norms acquired from parents and others who were influential in early childhood; though it belongs to the ego and shares its kind of psychological organization, the superego is also said to have an intimate connection with the id, for it can confront the ego with rules and prohibitions like a strict parent" (Leslie Stevenson & David L. Haberman 155). If at an early stage the child is exposed to an environment that consists of overly aggressive and dominant parents the development of that child’s superego may become a tad bit tyrannical, causing an adverse reaction within the psyche of that child. The result is the emergence of the Oedipus Complex. When the superego exerts an unhealthy tyrannical influence upon the psyche of the child burdening it with an immense amount of moral guilt and shame. The id will tend to lash out at the superego by expending a powerful gust of instinctual psychic energy directing it toward the ego. In an attempt to unconsciously encourage the ego to revolt against the extreme moral influence of the superego. Hypothetically speaking, it can be said in favor of the Oedipus complex, that it is in fact a equalizing agent that is hurled into the dynamics of the child’s psyche for the sole purpose of resolving an inner psychological conflict between the id and the superego. The priority of the Oedipus complex is to maintain a psychological equilibrium within the psychological constitution of the child’s psyche. This phenomenon can be likened to the emergence of certain circumstances that give to the hostility between a tyrannical governmental system and its residing populace, which can lead to a revolution to resolve the conflict between the government and its inhabitants. Calvin S. Hall , professor of psychology at Western Reserve University, illustrates this best when he writes: " The prohibitions of the consciences are the inhibitions or anti-cathexes which block the discharge of instinctual energy either directly in impulsive behavior and wish fulfillment, or indirectly by way of ego mechanisms. That is, the conscience opposes both the id and the ego, and tries to suspend the operation of the pleasure principle and the reality principle. A person who has a strong conscience is constantly on guard against immoral impulses. He spends so much of his energy for defense against the id that he does not have enough to perform useful and satisfying work. As a consequence, he becomes immobilized and lives a straitjacket existence." ( Hall 43 ) The author Calvin S. Hall is apparently attempting to convey to the reader the obvious fact that a progressive motion can only transpire within the sphere of a harmonious relationship between an organism and its necessary parts. For example, if my head and the upper portion of my body wish to travel in a specific direction and my legs wanted to travel in an entirely different direction, the confusion generated by these to opposing forces would virtually keep me at a stand still, preventing any progression in either direction.
At its worst, the Oedipus complex has conventionally been viewed as a pseudo-scientific absurdity lacking even a modicum of empirical evidence needed in order for it to be considered a legitimate scientific theory. Freud had this very criticism in mind when he had written: "So long as we trace the development from the final stage backwards, the connection appears continuous, and we feel we have gained an insight which is completely satisfactory or even exhaustive. But if we proceed the reverse way, if we start from the premises inferred from the analysis and try to follow these up to the final results, then we no longer get the impression of an inevitable sequence of events which could not be otherwise determined. We notice at once that there might have been another result, and that we might have been just as well able to understand and explain the latter. The synthesis is thus not so satisfactory as the analysis; in other words from knowledge of the premises we could not have foretold the nature of the result. It is very easy to account for this disturbing state of affairs. Even supposing that we thoroughly know the etiological factors that decide a given result, still we know them only qualitatively, and not in their relative strength. Some of them are so weak as to become suppressed by others, and therefore do not affect the final result. But we never know beforehand which of the determining factors will prove the weaker or the stronger. We only say at the end that those which succeeded must have been the stronger. Hence it is always possible by analysis to recognize the causation with certainty, whereas a prediction of it by synthesis is impossible." ( Hall 50 - 51 ) "What Freud is saying here is that because of the subtleties in the relative intensities of excitatory and inhibitory forces and because small changes in the intensities may produce large effects, psychology cannot be a predictive science. It can however, be a postdictive science in the sense that given a result it can look back and unearth the causes that produced the result." ( Hall 51)
There are numerous critiques which document what many consider to be serious discrepancies with the Freudian methodology of psychoanalysis. After a careful examination of such material, however, I found that none of those have attempted these critical analysis could seem to avoid the post hoc, ergo proper hoc fallacy. Furthermore, because of this I have taken the liberty to disregard any persons that wishes to argue in such a disreputable fashion. For example, in a book entitled The Freudian Fallacy Raymond Greene writes that he has heard "Freud described as ‘the greatest con man in history of medicine.’ This is unfair! He undoubtedly believed in the truth of his hypothesis when he first pronounced them, instanced by his RIDICULOUS theory of infantile sexuality. But, then why has Freud held sway for so long ? I think that all men faced with a mystery long for clarity. Mystery is a Bugbear that physicians abhor. They have been led astray by other GURUS than Freud, but this tendency they should resist. Of Sir William Osler, my old teacher, Alexander George Gibson said, ‘ I have never known any doctor say more often I don’t know.’ This is the beginning of wisdom. Freud had a scientific training that should have protected him from the prevalent medical vice of explaining one mystery by the substitution of another. I think Miss Thornton’s view, so ably set forth in this book, that the answer lay in his addiction to COCAINE has much to recommend it." ( E. M. Thornton ) Rhetoric of this type is a direct violation of the rules of argumentation and, moreover, it is indecent! Arguments like this, lack the objective view of a critical analysis and tend to mistake a subjective analysis for an objective one. This sort of error is relatively an easy one to detect, for you can always spot a faulty argument by the type of rhetoric it uses. Usually, the rhetoric is affected with personal biases and disagreements, and is generally an appeal to the existing moral code, which I label an appeal to morality. Ironically enough, Freud was quite aware of this phenomenon and has categorized it as a particular ego personality type. "The ego-ideal strives for perfection . Its energy is invested in cahecting ideals which are the internalized representatives of the parent’s moral values . These ideals represent perfectionistic object-choices. A person who has a lot of his energy tied up in the ego-ideal is idealistic and high minded. His choice of objects and interest is determined more by their moralistic than by their realistic values. He is more concerned with differentiating the good from the bad than he is with distinguishing between the true and the false. For such a person , virtue is more important than truth."( Hall 44) An individual such as this who displays this particular behavioral pattern is unconsciously the slave of his superego. By identifying with the ethical and moral construct of the superego, and in adhering to the ethical- idea or frame work which the superego is composed of, the ego of that child experiences an intense feeling of pride. It is important to keep in mind that the superego is the internalized moral precepts of the parents and just like a parent it is able to reward, as well as punish. With this in mind, the superego can and will confer upon the ego a strong sensation of pride, in return, for satiating the will of the superego.
Deriving its name and essence from the Hellenic tragedy Oedipus Rex, Freud was inspired by the essential patricide and incest motif to later incorporate it to symbolically represent the transitional dynamic of the "ego" overcoming the "superego." Written by the Hellenic poet Sophocles who was born outside of Athens at Colonus, in 496 B. C. Oedipus Rex the play is undeniably acknowledged as one of the greatest of all the tragic dramas of the honored tradition of Greek theater. In this celebrated Greek drama, Oedipus unknowably kills his father and marries his mother. By the advent of psychoanalysis ( the study of unconscious aspect of the human psyche) Freud postulated that written into the biological constitution of the male child is the innate drive to kill his father and sleep with his mother. For many, the Freudian presupposition of the inherent existence of the Oedipus Complex is an absurdity and because it fails to coincide with the extant of our moral conditioning, we tend to unconsciously resist the probability of this Freudian concept. Historically, this should be expected, for it has always been customary of human beings to reject any scientific hypothesis that did not confirm with what we had already considered to be the truth of the matter. For example, the imprisonment and excommunication of Galileo by the Catholic church for asserting that the Sun, and not the Earth was the center of the universe.
The Oedipus complex in its entirety, is the inherent transitional drive of the human organism from childhood toward adulthood and because of this it should not be feared. Freud postulated that human beings were being dominated by two basic instinct: Eros (the Sexual drive or life force) and Thanathos (the death force, which explains the phenomenon of warfare) Eros is located on various parts of the body categorized as erogenous zones. According to his theory the erogenous zones are very important to the cognitive development of the child. Cognitive development consist of three stages, 1. The oral stage,2. The anal stage, and lastly the phallic stage. At the advent of the phallic stage the male child becomes fixated on his own penis. He discovers a great sense of pleasure through masturbation and so it becomes of great interest to him. A crucial development occurs during the phallic stage and the Oedipus complex begins to emerge. The Oedipus complex according to Freud, is a period of time during cognitive development when the male child becomes sexually attracted to his mother, to the point of obssesion. Furthermore, he begins to view his father as a potential rival competing for the affection of the mother. After the child realizes that the father is much to powerful as an adversary, reality sets in and the child now begins to understand the impossibility of his sexual obssesion with his mother is. As a result of this realization the Oedipus complex is supposed to be officially resolve. But, is this exactly the case? Or must the Oedipus complex continue in till the superego is utterly destroyed? Though I have asked the reader these questions, I do not wish to expound upon them now, but I plan to return these questions later on in the essay.
As I have already mentioned the Oedipus complex is a transitional dynamic inherent in the human organism. Since its inception Freud had searched rigorously for some biological evidence which would support his presupposition of the existence of the id. Unfortunately, for Freud that he is unable to witness the fruition of his search, but with the advent of the gene and our scientific understanding of genetics, the biological evidence needed to support Freudian id has been found. The gene is defined as a basic unit of heredity, or a unit of biological history. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, human beings are also descended from animal ancestors. " Apart from this very general argument for the mechanism of evolution, there is much direct empirical evidence for our common ancestry with other animals. Comparative anatomy shows the human body to have the same general plan as other vertebrates - e. G. Four limbs with five digits on each. The human embryo goes through stages of development in which resembles those of various lower forms of life. In the adult human body there are remnants of such lower forms -e.g. Vestigial tail." ( Stevenson & Haberman 209-210) The Oedipus complex is a vestigial trait that we as human beings have inherited from our primordial animal ancestry. Freud understood this intuitively, when he had determined that the urge to kill the father and have sex with the mother was inherent in the male child’s biology. A behaviorist by the name of Lorenz has made the argument that evolution has equipped certain species with a "ritualization" of fighting for the production biological advantages to insure the survival of that particular species. The Oedipus complex exist to push the child toward self discovery.
At the advent of the Oedipus complex the child becomes familiar with himself and also with his attraction toward the opposite sex. In other words, as I have stated previously that the Oedipus complex is a transitional dynamic, it is the beginning of the child becoming a husband and a father himself.
Previously, in this essay the question was ask is the Oedipus complex resolved when the child realizes the futility of his sexual obsession with his mother, or must it continue in till the superego is utterly destroyed? If the child is ever to become a true individual possessing an identity of his own, the superego of that child must be overcome. In order for this to happen the superego must become dormant. It can no longer have a positive or negative effect on the individual’s psyche, especially if that individual is no longer a child. When properly interpreted for its symbolic meaning, the Oedipus complex is the spiritual murder of the superego so that the child can become the father of himself. He must become independent of the superego’s influence and create his own moral code. It is extremely important, that the individual play a free an active role in recreating, or restructuring his own personality. In the end, the individual must discover and become himself. The Oedipus complex is the Oedipal project, a project that sums up the basic problem of the child’s life: Whether he will be a passive object of fate, an appendage of others, a plaything of the world or whether he will be an active center within himself - whether he will control his own destiny with his own powers or not. ( Becker 35-36)
Another Freudian presupposition which has been vindicated from the scientific data that has been collected over the previous years, (pertaining to the nature of genetics) has been his presupposition that humans are purely sexual beings. The human gene, which the author believes to be what Freud referred to as the id, it would seem has programmed humanity with one central and very important command. Transmit the code! This simply means engage in as much sexual intercourse that is humanly possible. In fact, what we now understand about genetics, this Freudian presupposition is undeniable. According to what the author has read concerning genetics is that the gene, it would seems keeps us alive long enough to make a replication of itself. This is why roughly after the ages of thirty to forty-five years of age, we begin to decline sexually. And this is why, late in our lives the human body will tend to develop ailments such as cancer and menopause. It is assumed that this occurs, because we are no longer any use to the gene.
In closing, the author would like to comment upon the unjustified way in which we have criticized the Freudian hypothesis. The Freudian model of the human personality will forever haunt our civilized world, there is no escaping this. As the author has argued previously in this essay, that the major reason behind the Freudian controversy has been our inability to accept his hypothesis based upon the extant moral code. This is indecent and above all foolish. If we ever expect to discover the truth concerning our existence, we must cultivate the ability to see beyond our moral idea. Ultimately, we must learn to come to grips with the fact that our moral code is nothing more than an abstract idea, that is no more real than the childish belief in Santa Claus. If we wish to truly understand anything we must let go of what we think to be the TRUTH, and approach reality with an open mind, as well as an open heart. This essay is dedicated to great and brilliant man like Sigmund Freud, who’s genius has been bastardized, and men who have been intellectually crucified.
By google hi buddy
