Eros and Civilization

Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud | Herbert Marcuse

the superego. It originates from the long dependency of the infant on his parents; the parental influence remains the core of the superego. Subsequently, a number of societal and cultural influences are taken in by the superego until it coagulates into the powerful representative of established morality and “what people call the ‘higher‘ things in human life.”

sue0815 This development, by which originally conscious struggles with the demands of reality (the parents and their successors in the formation of the superego) are transformed into unconscious automatic reactions, is of the utmost importance for the course of civilization. 3mo

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sue0815

Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud | Herbert Marcuse

According to Freud, the history of man is the history of his repression. Culture constrains not only his societal but also his biological existence, not only parts of the human being but his instinctual structure itself. However, such constraint is the very precondition of progress.

sue0815 Later, Freud, in order to illustrate the regressive character of sexuality, recalls Plato‘s “fantastic hypothesis” that “living substance at the time of its coming to life was torn apart into small particles, which have ever since endeavoured to reunite through the sexual instincts.” 3mo

sue0815 Eros is defined as the great unifying force that preserves all life.16 The ultimate relation between Eros and Thanatos remains obscure.
3mo

sue0815 Fenichel pointed out20 that Freud himself made a decisive step in this direction by assuming a “displaceable energy, which is in itself neutral, but is able to join forces either with an erotic or with a destructive impulse” — with the life or the death instinct. 3mo

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sue0815

Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud | Herbert Marcuse

“Instinct,” in accordance with Freud‘s notion of Trieb, refers to primary “drives” of the human organism which are subject to historical modification; they find mental as well as somatic representation.

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