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diff --git a/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md b/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2d82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md @@ -0,0 +1,506 @@ +[[!meta title="Eros and Civilization"]] + +* Author: Hebert Marcuse + +## Snippets + +### From Pleasure Principle to Reality Principle + +The becoming of an organized ego: + + The vicissitudes of the instincts are the vicissitudes of the mental apparatus + in civilization. The animal drives become human instincts under the influence + of the external reality. Their original "location" in the organism and their + basic direction remain the same, but their objectives and their manifestations + are subject to change. All psychoanalytic concepts (sublimation , + identification, projection, repression, introjection) connote the mutability of + the instincts. But the reality which shapes the instincts as well as their + needs and satisfaction is a socio-historical world. The animal man becomes a + human being only through a fundamental transformation of his nature, affecting + not only the instinctual aims but also the instinctual "values" -- that is, the + principles that govern the attainment of the aims. The change in the governing + value system may be tentatively defined as follows: + + from: to: + immediate satisfaction delayed satisfaction + pleasure restraint of pleasure + joy (play) toil (work) + receptiveness productiveness + absence of repression security + + Freud described this change as the transformation of the pleasure principle + into the reality principle. The interpretation of the "mental apparatus" in + terms of these two principles is basic to Freud' s theory and remains so in + spite of all modifications of the dualistic conception. It corresponds largely + (but not entirely) to the distinction between unconscious and conscious + processes. The individual exists, as it were, in two different dimensions, + characterized by different mental processes and principles. + + The difference between these two dimensions is a genetic-historical as well as + a structural one: the unconscious, ruled by the pleasure principle, comprises + "the older, primary processes, the residues of a phase of development in which + they were the only kind of mental processes." They strive for nothing but for + "gaining pleasure; from any operation which might arouse unpleasantness (` + pain') mental activity draws back." 1 But the unrestrained pleasure principle + comes into conflict with the natural and human environment . The individual + comes to the traumatic realization that full and painless gratification of his + needs is impossible. And after this experience of disappointment, a new + principle of mental functioning gains ascendancy. The reality principle + supersedes the pleasure principle: man learns to give up momentary, uncertain, + and destructive pleasure for delayed, restrained, but "assured" pleasure. 2 + Because of this lasting gain through renunciation and restraint, according to + Freud, the reality principle "safeguards " rather than "dethrones," "modifies " + rather than denies, the pleasure principle. + +### Civilized Introjection: the self-repression + + The effective subjugation of the instincts to repressive controls is imposed + not by nature but by man. The primal father, as the archetype of domination, + initiates the chain reaction of enslavement, rebellion, and reinforced + domination which marks the history of civilization. But ever since the first , + prehistoric restoration of domination following the first rebellion, repression + from without has been supported by repression from within: the unfree + individual introjects his masters and their commands into his own mental + apparatus. The struggle against freedom reproduces itself in the psyche of man + , as the self- repression of the repressed individual, and his self-repression + in turn sustains his masters and their institutions. It is this mental dynamic + which Freud unfolds as the dynamic of civilization. + + [...] + + Scarcity ( Lebensnot, Ananke) teaches men that they cannot freely gratify their + instinctual impulses, that they cannot live under the pleasure principle. + Society's motive in enforcing the decisive modification of the instinctual + structure is thus "economic; since it has not means enough to support life for + its members without work on their part, it must see to it that the number of + these members is restricted and their energies directed away from sexual + activities on to their work." 4 + + [...] + + According to Freud's conception the equation of freedom and happiness tabooed + by the conscious is upheld by the unconscious. Its truth, although repelled by + consciousness, continues to haunt the mind; it preserves the memory of past + stages of individual development at which integral gratification is obtained. + And the past continues to claim the future: it generates the wish that the + paradise be re-created on the basis of the achievements of civilization. + +### Eros and Thanatos + +At first it sounds like The Force from Star Wars... + + The pleasure principle, then., is a tendency operating in the service of a + function whose business it is to free the mental apparatus entirely from + excitation or to keep the amount of excitation in it constant or to keep it as + low as possible. We cannot yet decide with certainty in favour of any of these + ways of putting it. 5 + + But more and more the inner logic of the conception asserts itself. Constant + freedom from excitation has been finally abandoned at the birth of life; the + instinctual tendency toward equilibrium thus is ultimately regression behind + life itself. The primary processes of the mental apparatus, in their striving + for integral gratification, seem to be fatally bound to the "most universal + endeavour of all living substance -- namely to return to the quiescence of the + inorganic world." 6 The instincts are drawn into the orbit of death. "If it is + true that life is governed by Fechner's principle of constant equilibrium, it + consists of a continuous descent toward death." 7 The Nirvana principle now + emerges as the "dominating tendency of mental life, and perhaps of nervous life + in general." And the pleasure principle appears in the light of the Nirvana + principle -- as an "expression" of the Nirvana principle: . . the effort to + reduce, to keep constant or to remove internal tension due to stimuli (the + "Nirvana Principle".. )... finds expression in the pleasure principle; and our + recognition of this fact is one of our strongest reasons for believing in the + existence of death instincts. 8 + + However, the primacy of the Nirvana principle, the terrifying convergence of + pleasure and death, is dissolved as soon as it is established. No matter how + universal the regressive inertia of organic life, the instincts strive to + attain their objective in fundamentally different modes. The difference is + tantamount to that of sustaining and destroying life. Out of the common nature + of instinctual life develop two antagonistic instincts. The life instincts + (Eros) gain ascendency over the death instincts. They continuously counteract + and delay the "descent toward death": "fresh tensions are introduced by the + claims of Eros, of the sexual instincts, as expressed in instinctual needs." 9 + They begin their life-reproducing function with the separation of the germ + cells from the organism and the coalescence of two such cell bodies, 10 + proceeding to the establishment and preservation of "ever greater unities" of + life. 11 + + They thus win, against death, the "potential immortality" of the living + substance. 12 The dynamic dualism of instinctual life seems assured. However, + Freud at once harks back to the original common nature of the instincts. The + life instincts "are conservative in the same sense as the other instincts in + that they bring back earlier states of the living substance" -- although they + are conservative "to a higher degree." 13 Sexuality would thus ultimately obey + the same principle as the death instinct. 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." 14 Does Eros, in spite of all the evidence, in the last + analysis work in the service of the death instinct, and is life really only one + long "detour to death"? 15 But the evidence is strong enough, and the detour is + long enough to warrant the opposite assumption. Eros is defined as the great + unifying force that preserves all life. 16 The ultimate relation between Eros + and Thanatos remains obscure. + + If Eros and Thanatos thus emerge as the two basic instincts whose ubiquitous + presence and continuous fusion (and de-fusion) characterize the life process, + then this theory of instincts is far more than a reformulation of the preceding + Freudian concepts. + + [...] + + However, the discovery of the common "conservative nature" of the instincts + militates against the dualistic conception and keeps Freud's late + metapsychology in that state of suspense and depth which makes it one of the + great intellectual ventures in the science of man. The quest for the common + origin of the two basic instincts can no longer be silenced. Fenichel pointed + out 20 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. Never before has death been so consistently taken into the + essence of life; but never before also has death come so close to Eros. + Fenichel raises the decisive question whether the antithesis of Eros and death + instinct is not the "differentiation of an originally common root." He suggests + that the phenomena grouped together as the death instinct may be taken as + expression of a principle "valid for all instincts," a principle which, in the + course of development, "might have been modified.. by external influences ." + Moreover, if the "regression-compulsion " in all organic life is striving for + integral quiescence, if the Nirvana principle is the ground of the pleasure + principle, then the necessity of death appears in an entirely new light. The + death instinct is destructiveness not for its own sake, but for the relief of + tension. The descent toward death is an unconscious flight from pain and want. + It is an expression of the eternal struggle against suffering and repression. + And the death instinct itself seems to be affected by the historical changes + which affect this struggle. Further explanation of the historical character of + the instincts requires placing them in the new concept of the person which + corresponds to the last version of Freud's theory of instincts. + +### A person + +* The main "layers" of the mental structure are now designated as id, ego, and superego. +* The id is free from the forms. +* Ego: the "mediator" between the id and the external world. + +Superego: + + 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. The reality principle asserts itself through a + shrinking of the conscious ego in a significant direction: the autonomous + development of the instincts is frozen, and their pattern is fixed at the + childhood level. Adherence to a status quo ante is implanted in the + instinctual structure. The individual becomes instinctually re-actionary -- in + the literal as well as the figurative sense. + +### Biological and historical processes + + (a) Surplus-repression: the restrictions necessitated by social domination. + This is distinguished from (basic) repression: the "modifications " of the + instincts necessary for the perpetuation of the human race in civilization. + + (b) Performance principle: the prevailing historical form of the reality principle. + + Behind the reality principle lies the fundamental fact of Ananke or scarcity ( + Lebensnot), which means that the struggle for existence takes place in a world + too poor for the satisfaction of human needs without constant restraint, + renunciation, delay. In other words, whatever satisfaction is possible + necessitates work, more or less painful arrangements and undertakings for the + procurement of the means for satisfying needs. For the duration of work, which + occupies practically the entire existence of the mature individual, pleasure is + "suspended" and pain prevails. + + However, this argument, which looms large in Freud' s metapsychology, is + fallacious in so far as it applies to the brute fact of scarcity what actually + is the consequence of a specific organization of scarcity, and of a specific + existential attitude enforced by this organization. + The prevalent scarcity has, throughout civilization (although in very different + modes), been organized in such a way that it has not been distributed + collectively in accordance with individual needs, nor has the procurement of + goods for the satisfaction of needs been organized with the objective of best + satisfying the developing needs of the individuals. + Instead, the distribution of scarcity as well as the effort of overcoming it, + the mode of work, have been imposed upon individuals -- first by mere + violence, subsequently by a more rational utilization of power. + Domination differs from rational exercise of authority. The latter, which is + inherent in any societal division of labor, is derived from knowledge and + confined to the administration of functions and arrangements necessary for the + advancement of the whole. In contrast, domination is exercised by a particular + group or individual in order to sustain and enhance itself in a privileged + position. + + [...] + + Moreover, while any form of the reality principle demands a considerable degree + and scope of repressive control over the instincts, the specific historical + institutions of the reality principle and the specific interests of domination + introduce additional controls over and above those indispensable for civilized + human association. These additional controls arising from the specific + institutions of domination are what we denote as surplus-repression. + +### Primeval revolutions and counter-revolutions: the return of the repressed + + The role of the women gains increasing importance . "A good part of the power + which had become vacant through the father' s death passed to the women; the + time of the matriarchate followed." 11 It seems essential for Freud' s + hypothesis that in the sequence of the development toward civilization the + matriarchal period is preceded by primal patriarchal despotism: the low degree + of repressive domination, the extent of erotic freedom, which are traditionally + associated with matriarchy appear, in Freud's hypothesis, as consequences of + the overthrow of patriarchal despotism rather than as primary "natural" + conditions. In the development of civilization, freedom becomes possible only + as liberation. Liberty follows domination -- and leads to the reaffirmation of + domination. Matriarchy is replaced by a patriarchal counter-revolution, and the + latter is stabilized by the institutionalization of religion. + + Male gods at first appear as sons by the side of the great mother-deities, but + gradually they assume the features of the father; polytheism cedes to + monotheism, and then returns the "one and only father deity whose power is + unlimited." 13 Sublime and sublimated, original domination becomes eternal, + cosmic, and good, and in this form guards the process of civilization. The + "historical rights" of the primal father are restored. + + [...] + + Must not their sense of guilt include guilt about the betrayal and denial of + their deed? Are they not guilty of restoring the repressive father, guilty of + self-imposed perpetuation of domination? The question suggests itself if + Freud's phylogenetic hypothesis is confronted with his notion of the + instinctual dynamic. As the reality principle takes root, even in its most + primitive and most brutally enforced form, the pleasure principle becomes + something frightful and terrifying; the impulses for free gratification meet + with anxiety, and this anxiety calls for protection against them. The + individuals have to defend themselves against the specter of their integral + liberation from want and pain, against integral gratification. And the latter + is represented by the woman who, as mother, has once, for the first and last + time, provided such gratification. These are the instinctual factors which + reproduce the rhythm of liberation and domination. + + [...] + + If we follow this train of thought beyond Freud, and connect it with the + twofold origin of the sense of guilt, the life and death of Christ would appear + as a struggle against the father -- and as a triumph over the father. 21 The + message of the Son was the message of liberation: the overthrow of the Law + (which is domination) by Agape (which is Eros). This would fit in with the + heretical image of Jesus as the Redeemer in the flesh, the Messiah who came to + save man here on earth. Then the subsequent transubstantiation of the Messiah, + the deification of the Son beside the Father, would be a betrayal of his + message by his own disciples -- the denial of the liberation in the flesh, the + revenge on the redeemer. Christianity would then have surrendered the gospel of + Agape-Eros again to the Law; the father-rule would be restored and + strengthened. In Freudian terms, the primal crime could have been expiated, + according to the message of the Son, in an order of peace and love on earth. It + was not; it was rather superseded by another crime -- that against the Son. + With his transubstantiation, his gospel too was transubstantiated; his + deification removed his message from this world. Suffering and repression were + perpetuated. + + [...] + + We have seen that Freud's theory is focused on the recurrent cycle + "domination-rebellion-domination." But the second domination is not simply a + repetition of the first one; the cyclical movement is progress in domination. + From the primal father via the brother clan to the system of institutional + authority characteristic of mature civilization, domination becomes + increasingly impersonal, objective, universal, and also increasingly rational, + effective, productive. At the end, under the rule of the fully developed + performance principle, subordination appears as implemented through the social + division of labor itself (although physical and personal force remains an + indispensable instrumentality). + + [...] + + The development of a hierarchical system of social labor not only rationalizes + domination but also "contains" the rebellion against domination. At the + individual level, the primal revolt is contained within the framework of the + normal Oedipus conflict. At the societal level, recurrent rebellions and + revolutions have been followed by counterrevolutions and restorations. From the + slave revolts in the ancient world to the socialist revolution, the struggle of + the oppressed has ended in establishing a new, "better" system of domination; + progress has taken place through an improving chain of control. Each revolution + has been the conscious effort to replace one ruling group by another; but each + revolution has also released forces that have "overshot the goal," that have + striven for the abolition of domination and exploitation. The ease with which + they have been defeated demands explanations. The ease with which they have + been defeated demands explanations. Neither the prevailing constellation of + power, nor immaturity of the productive forces, nor absence of class + consciousness provides an adequate answer. In every revolution, there seems to + have been a historical moment when the struggle against domination might have + been victorious -- but the moment passed. An element of self-defeat seems to + be involved in this dynamic (regardless of the validity of such reasons as the + prematurity and inequality of forces ). In this sense, every revolution has + also been a betrayed revolution. + +### Technics + + Technics provide the very basis for progress; technological rationality sets + the mental and behaviorist pattern for productive performance, and "power over + nature" has become practically identical with civilization. Is the + destructiveness sublimated in these activities sufficiently subdued and + diverted to assure the work of Eros? It seems that socially useful + destructiveness is less sublimated than socially useful libido. To be sure, the + diversion of destructiveness from the ego to the external world secured the + growth of civilization. However, extroverted destruction remains destruction: + its objects are in most cases actually and violently assailed, deprived of + their form, and reconstructed only after partial destruction; units are + forcibly divided, and the component parts forcibly rearranged. Nature is + literally "violated." Only in certain categories of sublimated aggressiveness + (as in surgical practice) does such violation directly strengthen the life of + its object. Destructiveness, in extent and intent, seems to be more directly + satisfied in civilization than the libido. + + [...] + + Then, through constructive technological destruction, through the constructive + violation of nature, the instincts would still operate toward the annihilation + of life. The radical hypothesis of Beyond the Pleasure Principle would stand: + the instincts of self-preservation, self-assertion, and mastery, in so far as + they have absorbed this destructiveness, would have the function of assuring + the organism' s "own path to death." + + [...] + + The growing mastery of nature then would, with the growing productivity of + labor, develop and fulfill the human needs only as a by-product: increasing + cultural wealth and knowledge would provide the material for progressive + destruction and the need for increasing instinctual repression. + + [...] + + However, the very progress of civilization tends to make this rationality a + spurious one. The existing liberties and the existing gratifications are tied + to the requirements of domination; they themselves become instruments of + repression. The excuse of scarcity, which has justified institutionalized + repression since its inception, weakens as man 's knowledge and control over + nature enhances the means for fulfilling human needs with a minimum of toil. + The still prevailing impoverishment of vast areas of the world is no longer due + chiefly to the poverty of human and natural resources but to the manner in + which they are distributed and utilized. + + This difference may be irrelevant to politics and to politicians but it is of + decisive importance to a theory of civilization which derives the need for + repression from the "natural" and perpetual disproportion between human desires + and the environment in which they must be satisfied. If such a "natural" + condition, and not certain political and social institutions, provides the + rationale for repression, then it has become irrational. The culture of + industrial civilization has turned the human organism into an ever more + sensitive, differentiated, exchangeable instrument, and has created a social + wealth sufficiently great to transform this instrument into an end in itself. + The available resources make for a qualitative change in the human needs. + Rationalization and mechanization of labor tend to reduce the quantum of + instinctual energy channeled into toil (alienated labor), thus freeing energy + for the attainment of objectives set by the free play of individual faculties. + + Technology operates against the repressive utilization of energy in so far as + it minimizes the time necessary for the production of the necessities of life, + thus saving time for the development of needs beyond the realm of necessity + and of necessary waste. + + But the closer the real possibility of liberating the individual from the + constraints once justified by scarcity and immaturity, the greater the need for + maintaining and streamlining these constraints lest the established order of + domination dissolve. Civilization has to defend itself against the specter of a + world which could be free. If society cannot use its growing productivity for + reducing repression (because such usage would upset the hierarchy of the status + quo), productivity must be turned against the individuals; it becomes itself + an instrument of universal control. Totalitarianism spreads over late + industrial civilization wherever the interests of domination prevail upon + productivity, arresting and diverting its potentialities. The people have to be + kept in a state of permanent mobilization, internal and external. The + rationality of domination has progressed to the point where it threatens to + invalidate its foundations; therefore it must be reaffirmed more effectively + than ever before. This time there shall be no killing of the father, not even a + "symbolic" killing -- because he may not find a successor. + +### Misc + + Smell and taste give, as it were, unsublimated pleasure per se (and unrepressed + disgust). They relate (and separate) individuals immediately, without the + generalized and conventionalized forms of consciousness, morality, aesthetics. + Such immediacy is incompatible with the effectiveness of organized domination, + with a society which "tends to isolate people, to put distance between them, + and to prevent spontaneous relationships and thènatural' animal -like + expressions of such relations." + + [...] + + But, again, Freud shows that this repressive system does not really solve the + conflict. Civilization plunges into a destructive dialectic: the perpetual + restrictions on Eros ultimately weaken the life instincts and thus strengthen + and release the very forces against which they were "called up" -- those of + destruction. + + [...] + + For the vast majority of the population, the scope and mode of satisfaction are + determined by their own labor; but their labor is work for an apparatus which + they do not control, which operates as an independent power to which + individuals must submit if they want to live. And it becomes the more alien the + more specialized the division of labor becomes. Men do not live their own lives + but perform pre-established functions. While they work, they do not fulfill + their own needs and faculties but work in alienation. Work has now become + general, and so have the restrictions placed upon the libido: labor time, which + is the largest part of the individual' s life time, is painful time, for + alienated labor is absence of gratification, negation of the pleasure + principle. Libido is diverted for socially useful performances in which the + individual works for himself only in so far as he works for the apparatus, + engaged in activities that mostly do not coincide with his own faculties and + desires. + + [...] + + The work of repression pertains to the death instinct as well as the life + instinct. Normally, their fusion is a healthy one, but the sustained severity + of the superego constantly threatens this healthy balance. "The more a man + checks his aggressive tendencies toward others the more tyrannical, that is + aggressive, he becomes in his ego-ideal.. the more intense become the + aggressive tendencies of his ego-ideal against his ego." 57 Driven to the + extreme, in melancholia, "a pure culture of the death instinct" may hold sway + in the superego + + [...] + + It is in this context that Freud's metapsychology comes face to face with the + fatal dialectic of civilization: the very progress of civilization leads to the + release of increasingly destructive forces. In order to elucidate the + connection between Freud's individual psychology and the theory of + civilization, it will be necessary to resume the interpretation of the + instinctual dynamic at a different level -- namely, the phylogenetic one. + + [...] + + Note: 45 To be sure, every form of society, every civilization has to exact + labor time for the procurement of the necessities and luxuries of life. But not + every kind and mode of labor is essentially irreconcilable with the pleasure + principle. The human relations connected with work may "provide for a very + considerable discharge of libidinal component impulses, narcissistic, + aggressive, and even erotic." ( Civilization and Its Discontents, p. 34 note.) + The irreconcilable conflict is not between work (reality principle) and Eros + (pleasure principle), but between alienated labor (performance principle) and + Eros. The notion of non-alienated, libidinal work will be discussed below. + + [...] + + It is the end result of long historical processes which are congealed in the + network of human and institutional entities making up society, and these + processes define the personality and its relationships. Consequently, to + understand them for what they really are, psychology must unfreeze them by + tracing their hidden origins. In doing so, psychology discovers that the + determining childhood experiences are linked with the experiences of the + species -- that the individual lives the universal fate of mankind. The past + defines the present because mankind has not yet mastered its own history. + + [...] + + The basic work in civilization is non-libidinal, is labor; labor is + "unpleasantness," and such unpleasantness has to be enforced. + + [...] + + To be sure, there is a mode of work which offers a high degree of libidinal + satisfaction, which is pleasurable in its execution. And artistic work, where + it is genuine, seems to grow out of a non-repressive instinctual constellation + and to envisage non-repressive aims -- so much so that the term sublimation + seems to require considerable modification if applied to this kind of work. |