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diff --git a/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md b/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md index 93d4806..60a736d 100644 --- a/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md +++ b/books/psicologia/eros-civilization.md @@ -414,7 +414,184 @@ Superego: 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 +### Repression due to exogenous factors: the central argument + + Therefore, if the historical process tended to make obsolete the institutions + of the performance principle, it would also tend to make obsolete the + organization of the instincts -- that is to say, to release the instincts from + the constraints and diversions required by the performance principle. This + would imply the real possibility of a gradual elimination of + surplus-repression, whereby an expanding area of destructiveness could be + absorbed or neutralized by strengthened libido. Evidently, Freud' s theory + precludes the construction of any psychoanalytical utopia. If we accept his + theory and still maintain that there is historical substance in the idea of a + non-repressive civilization, then it must be derivable from Freud's instinct + theory itself. His concepts must be examined to discover whether or not they + contain elements that require reinterpretation. This approach would parallel + the one used in the preceding sociological discussion. + + [...] + + Freud maintains that an essential conflict between the two principles is + inevitable; however, in the elaboration of his theory, this inevitability seems + to be opened to question. The conflict, in the form it assumes in civilization, + is said to be caused and perpetuated by the prevalence of Ananke, Lebensnot, + the struggle for existence. (The later stage of the instinct theory, with the + concepts of Eros and death instinct, does not cancel this thesis: Lebensnot + now appears as the want and deficiency inherent in organic life itself.) The + struggle for existence necessitates the repressive modification of the + instincts chiefly because of the lack of sufficient means and resources for + integral, painless and toilless gratification of instinctual needs. If this is + true, the repressive organization of the instincts in the struggle for + existence would be due to exogenous factors -- exogenous in the sense that + they are not inherent in the "nature" of the instincts but emerge from the + specific historical conditions under which the instincts develop. + + [...] + + According to Freud, this distinction is meaningless, for the instincts + themselves are "historical"; 1 there is no instinctual structure "outside" the + historical structure. However, this does not dispense with the necessity of + making the distinction -- except that it must be made within the historical + structure itself. The latter appears as stratified on two levels: (a) the + phylogenetic-biological level, the development of the animal man in the + struggle with nature; and (b) the sociological level, the development of + civilized individuals and groups in the struggle among themselves and with + their environment . + + The two levels are in constant and inseparable interaction, but factors + generated at the second level are exogenous to the first and have therefore a + different weight and validity (although, in the course of the development, they + can "sink down" to the first level): they are more relative; they can change + faster and without endangering or reversing the development of the genus. This + difference in the origin of instinctual modification underlies the distinction + we have introduced between repression and surplus-repression; 2 the latter + originates and is sustained at the sociological level. + + [...] + + For his metapsychology, it is not decisive whether the inhibitions are imposed + by scarcity or by the hierarchical distribution of scarcity, by the struggle + for existence or by the interest in domination. And indeed the two factors -- + the phylogenetic-biological and the sociological -- have grown together in the + recorded history of civilization. But their union has long since become + "unnatural" -and so has the oppressive "modification" of the pleasure principle + by the reality principle. Freud' s consistent denial of the possibility of an + essential liberation of the former implies the assumption that scarcity is as + permanent as domination -- an assumption that seems to beg the question. By + virtue of this assumption, an extraneous fact obtains the theoretical dignity + of an inherent element of mental life, inherent even in the primary instincts. + In the light of the long-range trend of civilization, and in the light of + Freud' s own interpretation of the instinctual development, the assumption must + be questioned. The historical piossibility of a gradual decontrolling of the + instinctual development must be taken seriously, perhaps even the historical + necessity -- if civilization is to progress to a higher stage of freedom. + + [...] + + The diagram sketches a historical sequence from the beginning of organic life + (stages 2 and 3), through the formative stage of the two primary instincts (5), + to their "modified " development as human instincts in civilization (6-7). The + turning points are at stages 3 and 6. They are both caused by exogenous factors + by virtue of which the definite formation as well as the subsequent dynamic of + the instincts become "historically acquired." At stage 3, the exogenous factor + is the " unrelieved tension " created by the birth of organic life; the + "experience" that life is less "satisfactory," more painful, than the preceding + stage generates the death instinct as the drive for relieving this tension + through regression. The working of the death instinct thus appears as the + result of the trauma of primary frustration: want and pain, here caused by a + geological-biological event. + + The other turning point, however, is no longer a geological-biological one: it + occurs at the threshold of civilization. The exogenous factor here is Ananke, + the conscious struggle for existence. It enforces the repressive controls of + the sex instincts (first through the brute violence of the primal father, then + through institutionalization and internalization), as well as the + transformation of the death instinct into socially useful aggression and + morality. This organization of the instincts (actually a long process) creates + the civilized division of labor, progress, and law and order"; but it also + starts the chain of events that leads to the progressive weakening of Eros and + thereby to the growth of aggressiveness and guilt feeling. We have seen that + this development is not "inherent" in the struggle for existence but only in + its oppressive organization, and that at the present stage the possible + conquest of want makes this struggle ever more irrational. + + [...] + + In the biological-geological conditions which Freud assumed for the living + substance as such, no such change can be envisaged; the birth of life continues + to be a trauma, and thus the reign of the Nirvana principle seems to be + unshakable. However, the derivatives of the death instinct operate only in + fusion with the sex instincts; as long as life grows, the former remain + subordinate to the latter; the fate of the destrudo (the "energy" of the + destruction instincts) depends on that of the libido. Consequently, a + qualitative change in the development of sexuality must necessarily alter the + manifestations of the death instinct. + + Thus, the hypothesis of a non-repressive civilization must be theoretically + validated first by demonstrating the possibility of a nonrepressive development + of the libido under the conditions of mature civilization. The direction of + such a development is indicated by those mental forces which, according to + Freud, remain essentially free from the reality principle and carry over this + freedom into the world of mature consciousness. Their re-examination must be + the next step. + +### Detours to death: death instinct and negentropy + + Our re-examination must therefore begin with Freud's analysis of the death + instinct. We have seen that, in Freud's late theory of the instincts, the + "compulsion inherent in organic life to restore an earlier state of things + which the living entity has been obliged to abandon under the pressure of + external disturbing forces" 4 is common to both primary instincts: Eros and + death instinct. Freud regards this retrogressive tendency as an expression of + the "inertia" in organic life, and ventures the following hypothetical + explanation: at the time when life originated in inanimate matter, a strong + "tension" developed which the young organism strove to relieve by returning to + the inanimate condition. 5 At the early stage of organic life, the road to the + previous state of inorganic existence was probably very short, and dying very + easy; but gradually "external influences " lengthened this road and compelled + the organism to take ever longer and more complicated "detours to death." + +[[!img detours-to-death.png link="no"]] + +### Phantasy + + Phantasy plays a most decisive function in the total mental structure: it links + the deepest layers of the unconscious with the highest products of + consciousness (art), the dream with the reality; it preserves the archetypes of + the genus, the perpetual but repressed ideas of the collective and individual + memory, the tabooed images of freedom. + + [...] + + The recognition of phantasy (imagination) as a thought process with its own + laws and truth values was not new in psychology and philosophy; Freud' s + original contribution lay in the attempt to show the genesis of this mode of + thought and its essential connection with the pleasure principle. The + establishment of the reality principle causes a division and mutilation of the + mind which fatefully determines its entire development. The mental process + formerly unified in the pleasure ego is now split: its main stream is channeled + into the domain of the reality principle and brought into line with its + requirements. Thus conditioned, this part of the mind obtains the monopoly of + interpreting, manipulating, and altering reality -- of governing remembrance + and oblivion, even of defining what reality is and how it should be used and + altered. The other part of the mental apparatus remains free from the control + of the reality principle -- at the price of becoming powerless, + inconsequential, unrealistic. + Whereas the ego was formerly guided and driven by the whole of its mental + energy, it is now to be guided only by that part of it which conforms to the + reality principle. This part and this part alone is to set the objectives, + norms, and values of the ego; as reason it becomes the sole repository of + judgment, truth, rationality; it decides what is useful and useless, good and + evil. 2 Phantasy as a separate mental process is born and at the same time + left behind by the organization of the pleasure ego into the reality ego. + Reason prevails: it becomes unpleasant but useful and correct; phantasy remains + pleasant but becomes useless, untrue -- a mere play, daydreaming. As such, it + continues to speak the language of the pleasure principle, of freedom from + repression, of uninhibited desire and gratification -- but reality proceeds + according to the laws of reason, no longer committed to the dream language. + +## Unsublimated pleasure Smell and taste give, as it were, unsublimated pleasure per se (and unrepressed disgust). They relate (and separate) individuals immediately, without the @@ -424,8 +601,25 @@ Superego: and to prevent spontaneous relationships and thènatural' animal -like expressions of such relations." +### Art + + Still, within the limits of the aesthetic form, art expressed, although in an + ambivalent manner , the return of the repressed image of liberation; art was + opposition. At the present stage, in the period of total mobilization, even + this highly ambivalent opposition seems no longer viable. Art survives only + where it cancels itself , where it saves its substance by denying its + traditional form and thereby denying reconciliation: where it becomes + surrealistic and atonal. 6 Otherwise, art shares the fate of all genuine human + communication : it dies off. + [...] + In a less sublimated form, the opposition of phantasy to the reality principle + is more at home in such sub-real and surreal processes as dreaming, + daydreaming, play, the "stream of consciousness." + +### Misc + 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 @@ -568,3 +762,33 @@ Superego: whole, whose existence is its denial. This foe appears as the archenemy and Antichrist himself : he is everywhere at all times ; he represents hidden and sinister forces, and his omnipresence requires total mobilization. + + [...] + + Being is essentially the striving for pleasure. This striving becomes an "aim" + in the human existence: the erotic impulse to combine living substance into + ever larger and more durable units is the instinctual source of civilization. + The sex instincts are life instincts: the impulse to preserve and enrich life + by mastering nature in accordance with the developing vital needs is originally + an erotic impulse. + Ananke is experienced as the barrier against the satisfaction of the life + instincts, which seek pleasure, not security. And the "struggle for existence" + is originally a struggle for pleasure: culture begins with the collective + implementation of this aim. Later, however, the struggle for existence is + organized in the interest of domination: the erotic basis of culture is + transformed. When philosophy conceives the essence of being as Logos, it is + already the Logos of domination -- commanding, mastering, directing reason, to + which man and nature are to be subjected Freud' s interpretation of being in + terms of Eros recaptures the early stage of Plato's philosophy, which conceived + of culture not as the repressive sublimation but as the free + self-development of Eros. As early as Plato, this conception appears as an + archaic-mythical residue. Eros is being absorbed into Logos, and Logos is + reason which subdues the instincts. + The history of ontology reflects the reality principle which governs the world + ever more exclusively: The insights contained in the metaphysical notion of + Eros were driven underground. They survived, in eschatological distortion, in + many heretic movements, in the hedonistic philosophy. Their history has still + to be written -- as has the history of the transformation of Eros in Agape. 29 + Freud's own theory follows the general trend: in his work, the rationality of + the predominant reality principle supersedes the metaphysical speculations on + Eros. diff --git a/books/psicologia/eros-civilization/detours-to-death.png b/books/psicologia/eros-civilization/detours-to-death.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3012525 --- /dev/null +++ b/books/psicologia/eros-civilization/detours-to-death.png |
