Freud On Instinct And Morality

This book examines Freud's changing views of human instincts, exploring the moral and social implications. Part One investigates Freud's concept of instinct and discusses the phases of his ongoing attempt to classify the instincts. In Part Two the author argues that Freud's instinct theory leads to a moral philosophy, and he relates this philosophy to Freud's views on group psychology. The notion of instinct is central to psychoanalytic theory, but never before has it been treated so comprehensively, with such close attention to the text. Nor has anyone previously examined in detail the moral and social implications of Freud's instinct theory. In examining these implications, Abel bridges the fields of psychology and philosophy.

This book examines Freud's changing views of human instincts, exploring the moral and social implications. Part One investigates Freud's concept of instinct and discusses the phases of his ongoing attempt to classify the instincts. In Part Two the author argues that Freud's instinct theory leads to a moral philosophy, and he relates this philosophy to Freud's views on group psychology. The notion of instinct is central to psychoanalytic theory, but never before has it been treated so comprehensively, with such close attention to the text. Nor has anyone previously examined in detail the moral and social implications of Freud's instinct theory. In examining these implications, Abel bridges the fields of psychology and philosophy.

Psychoanalysis has had a profound impact on popular morals, for Freud's discoveries have made us aware that unconscious motivations may subvert moral conduct and that moral judgments may be rationalizations of self-interest or expressions of hostility. Freud has, in fact, been called a founder of the "hermeneutics of suspicion" that pervades modern attitudes toward morality. In this book, however, a psychoanalyst who is also a professor of ethics asserts that we do not accurately understand Freud on the various psychological issues relevant to morality and the ethical implications that can be drawn from his views. Ernest Wallwork offers a bold reinterpretation of Freudian theory, showing the ways in which it points toward the possibility of genuine moral behavior. Wallwork provides close textual analyses of Freud's works from a new philosophical perspective, considering such central Freudian doctrines as psychic determinism, the pleasure principle, narcissism, object-love, and defense mechanisms. He demonstrates that, contrary to widespread belief, Freud's views on determinism allow for moral responsibility, his understanding of the pleasure principle and narcissism allows for acting out of concern of others, and his critique of the cultural superego is grounded in an ethic informed by ego rationality. Focusing throughout on Freud's seminal understanding of the self-in-conflict, Wallwork finds and ethical theory suggested by Freud's work that is naturalistic and grounded in a concept of human flourishing and regard for others and concerned with the common good, special relations, and individual rights.

How do psychoanalysts explain human morality? Guilt and Its Vicissitudes: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Morality focuses on the way Melanie Klein and successive generations of her followers pursued and deepened Freud's project of explaining man's moral sense as a wholly natural phenomenon. With the introduction of the superego, Freud laid claim to the study of moral development as part of the psychoanalytic enterprise. At the same time he reconceptualized guilt: he thought of it not only as conscious, but as unconscious as well, and it was the unconscious sense of guilt that became a particular concern of the discipline he was founding. As Klein saw it, his work merely pointed the way. Judith M. Hughes argues that Klein and contemporary Kleinians went on to provide a more consistent and comprehensive psychological account of moral development. Hughes shows how Klein and her followers came to appreciate that moral and cognitive questions are complexly interwoven and makes clear how this complexity prompted them to extend the range of their theory. Hughes demonstrates both a detailed knowledge of the major figures in post-war British psychoanalysis, and a keen sensitivity to the way clinical experience informed theory-building. She writes with vigor and grace, not only about Freud and Klein, but also about such key thinkers as Riviere, Isaacs, Heimann, Segal, Bion and Joseph. Guilt and Its Vicissitudes speaks to those concerned with the clinical application of psychoanalytic theory and to those interested in the contribution psychoanalysis makes to understanding questions of human morality.

Whether one accepts Freud’s teachings in toto or rejects a great part of them as unsubstantiated and untenable, one must admit that his influence on modern thought has been tremendous, incalculable—and on the whole beneficial. Many shams and hypocrisies have been uncovered and exploded by the ruthless analysis of modern psychology known as psychoanalysis, and in no field have the Freudian teachings borne better fruit than in the field of human sexology. That psychoanalysis has been exploited by charlatans and ignorant laymen for their own benefit and to the detriment of their victims is not to be laid at the door of its founder. Of all Freud’s writings—and their number is enormous—the writer considers the present essay the most important—the most important barring none. In this essay Freud clearly states his position on the importance of the sex instinct in modern civilization, on the relationship between sexual abstinence and nervousness or neurosis, and boldly proclaims, what medieval theologians still persist in denying, that man’s sexual instinct is not at all primarily meant to serve purposes òf reproduction but is intended to furnish certain forms of gratification.

Now a classic, this book was hailed upon its original publication in 1959 as "An event to be acclaimed . . . a book of genuine brilliance on Freud's cultural importance . . . a permanently valuable contribution to the human sciences."—Alastair MacIntyre, Manchester Guardian "This remarkably subtle and substantial book, with its nicely ordered sequences of skilled dissections and refined appraisals, is one of those rare products of profound analytic thought. . . . The author weighs each major article of the psychoanalytic canon in the scales of his sensitive understanding, then gives a superbly balanced judgement."—Henry A. Murray, American Sociological Review "Rieff's tremendous scholarship and rich reflections fill his pages with memorable treasures."—Robert W. White, Scientific American "Philip Rieff's book is a brilliant and beautifully reasoned example of what Freud's influence has really been: an increasing intellectual vigilance about human nature. . . . What the analyst does for the patient—present the terms for his new choices as a human being—Mr. Rieff does in respect to the cultural significance of Freudianism. His style has the same closeness, the same undertone of hypertense alertness. Again and again he makes brilliant points."—Alfred Kazin, The Reporter

A new translation from the original German manuscript of Freud's famous 1920 Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Jenseits des Lustprinzips) and related wrings on the antinomy of sexuality and morality. Here, Feuerbach's influence on Freud shines through as his Materialistic Epicureanism meets Hume's English Empiricism. This collection combines 4 major works on Sexual Ethics and MetaPsychological concepts into a single volume, containing: In German: 1920 Jenseits des Lustprinzips 1906 Meine Ansichten über die Rolle der Sexualität in der Ätiologie der Neurosen 1908 Der Dichter und das Phantasieren 1924 Der Untergang des Ödipuskomplexes In English: 1920 Beyond the Pleasure Principle 1906 My Views on the Role of Sexuality in the Etiology of the Neuroses 1908 The Poet and Fantasizing 1924 The demise of the Oedipus complex This edition includes an introduction by the translator on the philosophic differences between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, a glossary of Freudian Psychological terminology and a timeline of Freud’s life & works. This is Volume XII in the 2023 Complete Works of Sigmund Freud by NL Press. This new translation of Freud's collected systematic works laid out across 14 volumes by topic and contains essays which have never been translated into until now.