From b6c0ffcaf707ee1968a7f29021d20357692a84d0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Silvio Rhatto Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2018 10:05:58 -0300 Subject: Reorganization --- books/psychology/eros-civilization.md | 1409 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 1409 insertions(+) create mode 100644 books/psychology/eros-civilization.md (limited to 'books/psychology/eros-civilization.md') diff --git a/books/psychology/eros-civilization.md b/books/psychology/eros-civilization.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdd41ab --- /dev/null +++ b/books/psychology/eros-civilization.md @@ -0,0 +1,1409 @@ +[[!meta title="Eros and Civilization"]] + +* Author: Hebert Marcuse +* Some subjects covered (keywords): productivity, efficiency, labor, repression, domination, alienation, automation. + +## 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. + + [...] + + Note: 20 In his paper on "The Delay of the Machine Age," Hanns Sachs made an + interesting attempt to demonstrate narcissism as a constitutive element of the + reality principle in Greek civilization. He discussed the problem of why the + Greeks did not develop a machine technology although they possessed the skill + and knowledge which would have enabled them to do so. He was not satisfied with + the usual explanations on economic and sociological grounds. Instead, he + proposed that the predominant narcissistic element in Greek culture prevented + technological progress: the libidinal cathexis of the body was so strong that + it militated against mechanization and automatization. Sachs' paper appeared in + the Psychoanalytic Quarterly, II (1933) , 42off. + +### 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. + + [...] + + The danger of abusing the discovery of the truth value of imagination for + retrogressive tendencies is exemplified by the work of Carl Jung. + +## Unsublimated pleasure + + 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." + +### 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." + + [...] + + The surrealists recognized the revolutionary implications of Freud' s + discoveries: "Imagination is perhaps about to reclaim its rights." + 13 But when they asked, "Cannot the dream also be applied to the solution of + the fundamental problems of life?" 14 they went beyond psychoanalysis in + demanding that the dream be made into reality without compromising its content. + Art allied itself with the revolution. Uncompromising adherence to the strict + truth value of imagination comprehends reality more fully. That the + propositions of the artistic imagination are untrue in terms of the actual + organization of the facts belongs to the essence of their truth: The truth that + some proposition respecting an actual occasion is untrue may express the vital + truth as to the aesthetic achievement. It expresses the "great refusal" which + is its primary characteristic. 15 This Great Refusal is the protest against + unnecessary repression, the struggle for the ultimate form of freedom -- "to + live without anxiety." 16 But this idea could be formulated without punishment + only in the language of art. In the more realistic context of political theory + and even philosophy, it was almost universally defamed as utopia. + +### Utopia + + The relegation of real possibilities to the no-man's land of utopia is itself + an essential element of the ideology of the performance principle. If the + construction of a nonrepressive instinctual development is oriented, not on the + subhistorical past, but on the historical present and mature civilization, the + very notion of utopia loses its meaning. The negation of the performance + principle emerges not against but with the progress of conscious rationality; + it presupposes the highest maturity of civilization. The very achievements of + the performance principle have intensified the discrepancy between the archaic + unconscious and conscious processes of man, on the one hand, and his actual + potentialities, on the other. The history of mankind seems to tend toward + another turning point in the vicissitudes of the instincts. And, just as at the + preceding turning points, the adaptation of the archaic mental structure to the + new environment would mean another "castrophe" -- an explosive change in the + environment itself. However, while the first turning point was, according to + the Freudian hypothesis, an event in geological history, and while the second + occurred at the beginning of civilization, the third turning point would be + located at the highest attained level of civilization. The actor in this event + would be no longer the historical animal man but the conscious, rational + subject that has mastered and appropriated the objective world as the arena of + his realization. The historical factor contained in Freud' s theory of + instincts has come to fruition in history when the basis of Ananke ( Lebensnot) + -- which, for Freud, provided the rationale for the repressive reality + principle -- is undermined by the progress of civilization. + + Still, there is some validity in the argument that, despite all progress, + scarcity and immaturity remain great enough to prevent the realization of the + principle "to each according to his needs." The material as well as mental + resources of civilization are still so limited that there must be a vastly + lower standard of living if social productivity were redirected toward the + universal gratification of individual needs: many would have to give up + manipulated comforts if all were to live a human life. Moreover, the prevailing + international structure of industrial civilization seems to condemn such an + idea to ridicule. This does not invalidate the theoretical insistence that the + performance principle has become obsolescent. The reconciliation between + pleasure and reality principle does not depend on the existence of abundance + for all. The only pertinent question is whether a state of civilization can be + reasonably envisaged in which human needs are fulfilled in such a manner and to + such an extent that surplus-repression can be eliminated. + + Such a hypothetical state could be reasonably assumed at two points, which lie + at the opposite poles of the vicissitudes of the instincts: one would be + located at the primitive beginnings of history, the other at its most mature + stage. The first would refer to a non-oppressive distribution of scarcity (as + may, for example, have existed in matriarchal phases of ancient society). The + second would pertain to a rational organization of fully developed industrial + society after the conquest of scarcity. The vicissitudes of the instincts would + of course be very different under these two conditions, but one decisive + feature must be common to both: the instinctual development would be + non-repressive in the sense that at least the surplus-repression necessitated + by the interests of domination would not be imposed upon the instincts. This + quality would reflect the prevalent satisfaction of the basic human needs (most + primitive at the first, vastly extended and refined at the second stage), + sexual as well as social: food, housing, clothing, leisure. This satisfaction + would be (and this is the important point) without toil -- that is, without the + rule of alienated labor over the human existence. Under primitive conditions, + alienation has not yet arisen because of the primitive character of the needs + themselves, the rudimentary (personal or sexual) character of the division of + labor, and the absence of an institutionalized hierarchical specialization of + functions. Under the "ideal" conditions of mature industrial civilization, + alienation would be completed by general automatization of labor, reduction of + labor time to a minimum , and exchangeability of functions. Since the length + of the working day is itself one of the principal repressive factors imposed + upon the pleasure principle by the reality principle, the reduction of the + working day to a point where the mere quantum of labor time no longer arrests + human development is the first prerequisite for freedom. Such reduction by + itself would almost certainly mean a considerable decrease in the standard of + living prevalent today in the most advanced industrial countries. But the + regression to a lower standard of living, which the collapse of the performance + principle would bring about, does not militate against progress in freedom. + + The argument that makes liberation conditional upon an ever higher standard of + living all too easily serves to justify the perpetuation of repression. The + definition of the standard of living in terms of automobiles , television sets, + airplanes, and tractors is that of the performance principle itself. Beyond the + rule of this principle, the level of living would be measured by other + criteria: the universal gratification of the basic human needs, and the freedom + from guilt and fear -- internalized as well as external, instinctual as well as + rrational." "La vraie civilization. . n' est pas dans le gaz, ni dans la + vapeur, ni dans les tables tournantes. Elle est dans la diminution des traces + du pêché originel" 17 -- this is the definition of progress beyond the rule of + the performance principle. + + Under optimum conditions, the prevalence, in mature civilization, of material + and intellectual wealth would be such as to allow painless gratification of + needs, while domination would no longer systematically forestall such + gratification. In this case, the quantum of instinctual energy still to be + diverted into necessary labor (in turn completely mechanized and rationalized) + would be so small that a large area of repressive constraints and + modifications, no longer sustained by external forces , would collapse. + +### The Aesthetic Dimension + + Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), written largely + under the impact of the Critique of Judgment, aim at a remaking of civilization + by virtue of the liberating force of the aesthetic function: it is envisaged as + containing the possibility of a new reality principle. + + [...] + + Since it was civilization itself which "dealt modern man this wound," only a + new mode of civilization can heal it. The wound is caused by the antagonistic + relation between the two polar dimensions of the human existence. Schiller + describes this antagonism in a series of paired concepts: sensuousness and + reason, matter and form (spirit), nature and freedom, the particular and the + universal. + + Each of the two dimensions is governed by a basic impulse: the "sensuous + impulse " and the "form-impulse." 20 The former is essentially passive, + receptive, the latter active, mastering, domineering . Culture is built by the + combination and interaction of these two impulses. But in the established + civilization, their relation has been an antagonistic one: instead of + reconciling both impulses by making sensuousness rational and reason sensuous, + civilization has subjugated sensuousness to reason in such a manner that the + former, if it reasserts itself , does so in destructive and "savage" forms + while the tyranny of reason impoverishes and barbarizes sensuousness. The + conflict must be resolved if human potentialities are to realize themselves + freely. Since only the impulses have the lasting force that fundamentally + affects the human existence, such reconciliation between the two impulses must + be the work of a third impulse. Schiller defines this third mediating impulse + as the play impulse, its objective as beauty, and its goal as freedom. + + [...] + + The quest is for the solution of a "political" problem : the liberation of man + from inhuman existential conditions. Schiller states that, in order to solve + the political problem, "one must pass through the aesthetic, since it is beauty + that leads to freedom." The play impulse is the vehicle of this liberation. The + impulse does not aim at playing "with" something ; rather it is the play of + life itself, beyond want and external compulsion -- the manifestation of an + existence without fear and anxiety, and thus the manifestation of freedom + itself. + + Man is free only where he is free from constraint, external and internal, + physical and moral -- when he is constrained neither by law nor by need. 21 But + such constraint is the reality. Freedom is thus, in a strict sense, freedom + from the established reality: man is free when the "reality loses its + seriousness" and when its necessity "becomes light" ( leicht). 22 "The greatest + stupidity and the greatest intelligence have a certain affinity with each other + in that they both seek only the real"; however, such need for and attachment to + the real are "merely the results of want." + + In contrast, "indifference to reality" and interest in "show" (dis-play, + Schein) are the tokens of freedom from want and a "true enlargement of + humanity." 23 In a genuinely humane civilization, the human existence will be + play rather than toil, and man will live in display rather than need. + + These ideas represent one of the most advanced positions of thought. It must be + understood that the liberation from the reality which is here envisaged is not + transcendental, "inner," or merely intellectual freedom (as Schiller explicitly + emphasizes 24 ) but freedom in the reality. The reality that "loses its + seriousness" is the inhumane reality of want and need, and it loses its + seriousness when wants and needs can be satisfied without alienated labor. + Then, man is free to "play" with his faculties and potentialities and with + those of nature, and only by "playing" with them is he free. His world is then + display ( Schein), and its order is that of beauty. + + Because it is the realization of freedom, play is more than the constraining + physical and moral reality: ". . man is only serious with the agreeable, the + good, the perfect; but with beauty he plays." 25 Such formulations would be + irresponsible "aestheticism" if the realm of play were one of ornament, luxury, + holiday, in an otherwise repressive world. But here the aesthetic function is + conceived as a principle governing the entire human existence, and it can do so + only if it becomes "universal." + + [...] + + If we reassemble its main elements, we find: + + (1) The transformation of toil (labor) into play, and of repressive + productivity into "display" -- a transformation that must be preceded by the + conquest of want (scarcity) as the determining factor of civilization. 43 + + (2) The self-sublimation of sensuousness (of the sensuous impulse) and the + de-sublimation of reason (of the form-impulse) in order to reconcile the two + basic antagonistic impulses. + + (3) The conquest of time in so far as time is destructive of lasting + gratification. + + These elements are practically identical with those of a reconciliation between + pleasure principle and reality principle. We recall the constitutive role + attributed to imagination (phantasy) in play and display: Imagination preserves + the objectives of those mental processes which have remained free from the + repressive reality principle; in their aesthetic function, they can be + incorporated into the conscious rationality of mature civilization. The play + impulse stands for the common denominator of the two opposed mental processes + and principles. + + [...] + + Non-repressive order is essentially an order of abundance: the necessary + constraint is brought about by "superfluity" rather than need. Only an order of + abundance is compatible with freedom. At this point, the idealistic and the + materialistic critiques of culture meet. Both agree that nonrepressive order + becomes possible only at the highest maturity of civilization, when all basic + needs can be satisfied with a minimum expenditure of physical and mental energy + in a minimum of time. + + [...] + + Possession and procurement of the necessities of life are the prerequisite, + rather than the content, of a free society. The realm of necessity, of labor, + is one of unfreedom because the human existence in this realm is determined by + objectives and functions that are not its own and that do not allow the free + play of human faculties and desires. + The optimum in this realm is therefore to be defined by standards of + rationality rather than freedom -- namely, to organize production and + distribution in such a manner that the least time is spent for making all + necessities available to all members of society. Necessary labor is a system of + essentially inhuman, mechanical, and routine activities; in such a system, + individuality cannot be a value and end in itself. Reasonably, the system of + societal labor would be organized rather with a view to saving time and space + for the development of individuality outside the inevitably repressive + work-world. Play and display, as principles of civilization, imply not the + transformation of labor but its complete subordination to the freely evolving + potentialities of man and nature. + +## Regression into progress + + The processes that create the ego and superego also shape and perpetuate + specific societal institutions and relations. Such psychoanalytical concepts as + sublimation, identification, and introjection have not only a psychical but + also a social content: they terminate in a system of institutions, laws, + agencies, things, and customs that confront the individual as objective + entities. Within this antagonistic system, the mental conflict between ego and + superego, between ego and id, is at one and the same time a conflict between + the individual and his society. + + [...] + + Therefore, the emergence of a non-repressive reality principle involving + instinctual liberation would regress behind the attained level of civilized + rationality. This regression would be psychical as well as social: it would + reactivate early stages of the libido which were surpassed in the development + of the reality ego, and it would dissolve the institutions of society in which + the reality ego exists. In terms of these institutions, instinctual liberation + is relapse into barbarism. However, occurring at the height of civilization, as + a consequence not of defeat but of victory in the struggle for existence, and + supported by a free society, such liberation might have very different results. + It would still be a reversal of the process of civilization, a subversion of + culture -- but after culture had done its work and created the mankind and the + world that could be free. + +### Work, toil and play + + Freud's suggestions in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego do more + than reformulate his thesis of Eros as the builder of culture; culture here + rather appears as the builder of Eros -- that is to say, as the "natural" + fulfillment of the innermost trend of Eros. Freud's psychology of civilization + was based on the inexorable conflict between Ananke and free instinctual + development. But if Ananke itself becomes the primary field of libidinal + development, the contradiction evaporates. Not only would the struggle for + existence not necessarily cancel the possibility of instinctual freedom (as we + suggested in Chapter 6); but it would even constitute a "prop" for instinctual + gratificaiton. The work relations which form the base of civilization, and thus + civilization itself, would be "propped" by non-desexualized instinctual energy. + The whole concept of sublimation is at stake . + + The problem of work, of socially useful activity, without (repressive) + sublimation can now be restated. It emerged as the problem of a change in the + character of work by virtue of which the latter would be assimilated to play -- + the free play of human faculties. What are the instinctual preconditions for + such a transformation? The most far -reaching attempt to answer this question + is made by Barbara Lantos in her article "Work and the Instincts." 26 She + defines work and play in terms of the instinctual stages involved in these + activities. Play is entirely subject to the pleasure principle: pleasure is in + the movement itself in so far as it activates erotogenic zones. "The + fundamental feature of play is, that it is gratifying in itself, without + serving any other purpose than that of instinctual gratification." + + [...] + + The genital organization of the sexual instincts has a parallel in the + work-organization of the ego-instincts. 27 + + Thus it is the purpose and not the content which marks an activity as play or + work. 28 A transformation in the instinctual structure (such as that from the + pregenital to the genital stage) would entail a change in the instinctual value + of the human activity regardless of its content. For example, if work were + accompanied by a reactivation of pregenital polymorphous eroticism, it would + tend to become gratifying in itself without losing its work content. Now it is + precisely such a reactivation of polymorphous eroticism which appeared as the + consequence of the conquest of scarcity and alienation. The altered societal + conditions would therefore create an instinctual basis for the transformation + of work into play. In Freud's terms , the less the efforts to obtain + satisfaction are impeded and directed by the interest in domination, the more + freely the libido could prop itself upon the satisfaction of the great vital + needs. + + [...] + + But while the psychoanalytical and anthropological concepts of such an order + have been oriented on the prehistorical and precivilized past, our discussion + of the concept is oriented on the future, on the conditions of fully mature + civilization. The transformation of sexuality into Eros, and its extension to + lasting libidinal work relations, here presuppose the rational reorganization + of a huge industrial apparatus, a highly specialized societal division of + labor, the use of fantastically destructive energies, and the co-operation of + vast masses. + + The idea of libidinal work relations in a developed industrial society finds + little support in the tradition of thought, and where such support is + forthcoming it seems of a dangerous nature. The transformation of labor into + pleasure is the central idea in Fourier's giant socialist utopia. + + [...] + + Fourier insists that this transformation requires a complete change in the + social institutions: distribution of the social product according to need, + assignment of functions according to individual faculties and inclinations, + constant mutation of functions, short work periods, and so on. But the + possibility of "attractive labor" ( travail attrayant) derives above all from + the release of libidinal forces . Fourier assumes the existence of an + attraction indnstrielle which makes for pleasurable co-operation. It is based + on the attraction passionnée in the nature of man , which persists despite the + opposition of reason, duty, prejudice. + + [...] + + Fourier comes closer than any other utopian socialist to elucidating the + dependence of freedom on non-repressive sublimation. However, in his detailed + blueprint for the realization of this idea, he hands it over to a giant + organization and administration and thus retains the repressive elements . The + working communities of the phalanstère anticipate "strength through joy" + rather than freedom, the beautification of mass culture rather than its + abolition. Work as free play cannot be subject to administration; only + alienated labor can be organized and administered by rational routine. It is + beyond this sphere, but on its basis, that non-repressive sublimation creates + its own cultural order. + + [...] + + The necessity to work is a neurotic symptom. It is a crutch. It is an attempt + to make oneself feel valuable even though there is no particular need for one' + s working. 37 + +### Superid + + It has been pointed out that the superego, as the mental representative of + morality, is not unambiguously the representative of the reality principle, + especially of the forbidding and punishing father. In many cases, the superego + seems to be in secret alliance with the id, defending the claims of the id + against the ego and the external world. Charles Odier therefore proposed that a + part of the superego is "in the last analysis the representative of a primitive + phase, during which morality had not yet freed itself from the pleasure + principle." [superid] + + [...] + + The psychical phenomenon which, in the individual, suggests such a pregenital + morality is an identification with the mother, expressing itself in a + castration-wish rather than castration-threat. It might be the survival of a + regressive tendency: remembrance of the primal Mother-Right, and at the same + time a "symbolic means against losing the then prevailing privileges of the + woman." According to Odier, the pregenital and prehistorical morality of the + superid is incompatible with the reality principle and therefore a neurotic + factor . + +### Time, memory and death + + The flux of time is society' s most natural ally in maintaining law and order, + conformity, and the institutions that relegate freedom to a perpetual utopia; + the flux of time helps men to forget what was and what can be: it makes them + oblivious to the better past and the better future. + + This ability to forget -- itself the result of a long and terrible education by + experience -- is an indispensable requirement of mental and physical hygiene + without which civilized life would be unbearable; but it is also the mental + faculty which sustains submissiveness and renunciation. To forget is also to + forgive what should not be forgiven if justice and freedom are to prevail. Such + forgiveness reproduces the conditions which reproduce injustice and + enslavement: to forget past suffering is to forgive the forces that caused it + --without defeating these forces . The wounds that heal in time are also the + wounds that contain the poison. Against this surrender to time, the restoration + of remembrance to its rights, as a vehicle of liberation, is one of the noblest + tasks of thought. + + [...] + + Nietzsche saw in the training of memory the beginning of civilized morality -- + especially the memory of obligations, contracts, dues. 10 This context reveals + the one-sidedness of memory-training in civilization: the faculty was chiefly + directed toward remembering duties rather than pleasures; memory was linked + with bad conscience, guilt, and sin. Unhappiness and the threat of punishment , + not happiness and the promise of freedom, linger in memory. + + [...] + + Still, this defeat of time is artistic and spurious; remembrance is no real + weapon unless it is translated into historical action. Then, the struggle + against time becomes a decisive moment in the struggle against domination: The + conscious wish to break the continuum of history belongs to the revolutionary + classes in the moment of action. This consciousness asserted itself during the + July Revolution. In the evening of the first day of the struggle, + simultaneously but independently at several places, shots were fired at the + time pieces on the towers of Paris. 11 + + It is the alliance between time and the order of repression that motivates the + efforts to halt the flux of time, and it is this alliance that makes time the + deadly enemy of Eros. + + [...] + + Every sound reason is on the side of law and order in their insistence that the + eternity of joy be reserved for the hereafter, and in their endeavor to + subordinate the struggle against death and disease to the never-ceasing + requirements of national and international security. + + The striving for the preservation of time in time, for the arrest of time, for + conquest of death, seems unreasonable by any standard, and outright impossible + under the hypothesis of the death instinct that we have accepted. Or does this + very hypothesis make it more reasonable? The death instinct operates under the + Nirvana principle: it tends toward that state of "constant gratification" where + no tension is felt -- a state without want. This trend of the instinct implies + that its destructive manifestations would be minimized as it approached such a + state. If the instinct's basic objective is not the termination of life but + of pain -- the absence of tension -- then paradoxically, in terms of the + instinct, the conflict between life and death is the more reduced, the closer + life approximates the state of gratification. Pleasure principle and Nirvana + principle then converge. + + [...] + + Death would cease to be an instinctual goal. It remains a fact, perhaps even an + ultimate necessity -- but a necessity against which the unrepressed energy of + mankind will protest, against which it will wage its greatest struggle. In + this struggle, reason and instinct could unite. Under conditions of a truly + human existence, the difference between succumbing to disease at the age of + ten, thirty, fifty, or seventy, and dying a "natural" death after a fulfilled + life, may well be a difference worth fighting for with all instinctual energy. + Not those who die, but those who die before they must and want to die, those + who die in agony and pain, are the great indictment against civilization. + + They also testify to the unredeemable guilt of mankind. Their death arouses the + painful awareness that it was unnecessary, that it could be otherwise. It takes + all the institutions and values of a repressive order to pacify the bad + conscience of this guilt. Once again, the deep connection between the death + instinct and the sense of guilt becomes apparent. The silent "professional + agreement" with the fact of death and disease is perhaps one of the most + widespread expressions of the death instinct -- or, rather, of its social + usefulness. In a repressive civilization, death itself becomes an instrument of + repression. Whether death is feared as constant threat, or glorified as supreme + sacrifice, or accepted as fate, the education for consent to death introduces + an element of surrender into life from the beginning -- surrender and + submission. + +### Psychoanalytic Therapy and Theory + + Fromm has devoted an admirable paper to "The Social Conditions of + Psychoanalytic Therapy," in which he shows that the psychoanalytic situation + (between analyst and patient) is a specific expression of liberalist toleration + and as such dependent on the existence of such toleration in the society. But + behind the tolerant attitude of the "neutral" analyst is concealed "respect for + the social taboos of the bourgeoisie." + 7 Fromm traces the effectiveness of these taboos at the very core of Freudian + theory, in Freud' s position toward sexual morality. With this attitude, Fromm + contrasts another conception of therapy, first perhaps formulated by Ferenczi, + according to which the analyst rejects patricentric-authoritarian taboos and + enters into a positive rather than neutral relation with the patient. The new + conception is characterized chiefly by an "unconditional affirmation of the + patient' s claim for happiness" and the "liberation of morality from its + tabooistic features ." 8 + + [...] + + in a repressive society, individual happiness and productive development are in + contradiction to society; if they are defined as values to be realized within + this society, they become themselves repressive. + + [...] + + while psychoanalytic theory recognizes that the sickness of the individual is + ultimately caused and sustained by the sickness of his civilization, + psychoanalytic therapy aims at curing the individual so that he can continue to + function as part of a sick civilization without surrendering to it altogether. + + [...] + + Theoretically, the difference between mental health and neurosis lies only in + the degree and effectiveness of resignation: mental health is successful, + efficient resignation -- normally so efficient that it shows forth as + moderately happy satisfaction. Normality is a precarious condition. "Neurosis + and psychosis are both of them an expression of the rebellion of the id against + the outer world, of its ` pain,' unwillingness to adapt itself to necessity -- + to ananke, or, if one prefers, of its incapacity to do so." 9 + + [...] + + In the long run, the question is only how much resignation the individual can + bear without breaking up. In this sense, therapy is a course in resignation: a + great deal will be gained if we succeed in "transforming your hysterical misery + into everyday unhappiness," which is the usual lot of mankind. 11 + + [...] + + The autonomous personality, in the sense of creative "uniqueness" and fullness + of its existence, has always been the privilege of a very few. At the present + stage, the personality tends toward a standardized reaction pattern established + by the hierarchy of power and functions and by its technical, intellectual, and + cultural apparatus. + + The analyst and his patient share this alienation, and since it does not + usually manifest itself in any neurotic symptom but rather as the hallmark of + "mental health," it does not appear in the revisionist consciousness. + + [...] + + Fromm writes: Genuine love is rooted in productiveness and may properly be + called, therefore, "productive love." Its essence is the same whether it is the + mother's love for the child, our love for man , or the erotic love between two + individuals. . certain basic elements may be said to be characteristic of all + forms of productive love. These are care, responsibility, respect, and + knowledge. 35 + + Compare with this ideological formulation Freud' s analysis of the instinctual + ground and underground of love, of the long and painful process in which + sexuality with all its polymorphous perversity is tamed and inhibited until it + ultimately becomes susceptible to fusion with tenderness and affection -- a + fusion which remains precarious and never quite overcomes its destructive + elements . + + [...] + + According to Freud, love, in our culture, can and must be practiced as + "aim-inhibited sexuality," with all the taboos and constraints placed upon it + by a monogamic-patriarchal society. Beyond its legitimate manifestations, love + is destruetive and by no means conducive to productiveness and constructive + work. Love, taken seriously, is outlawed: "There is no longer any place in + present-day civilized life for a simple natural love between two human beings," + 37 But to the revisionists, productiveness, love, happiness, and health merge + in grand hannony; civilization has not caused any conflicts between them which + the mature person could not solve without serious damage . + + [...] + + Freud had established a substantive link between human freedom and happiness on + the one hand and sexuality on the other: the latter provided the primary source + for the former and at the same time the ground for their necessary restriction + in civilization. The revisionist solution of the conflict through the + spiritualization of freedom and happiness demanded the weakening of this link . + + [...] + + Fromm 's ideological interpretation of the Oedipus complex implies acceptance + of the unhappiness of freedom, of its separation from satisfaction; Freud' s + theory implies that the Oedipus wish is the eternal infantile protest against + this separation -- protest not against freedom but against painful , repressive + freedom. Conversely, the Oedipus wish is the eternal infantile desire for the + archetype of freedom: freedom from want. And since the (unrepressed) sex + instinct is the biological carrier of this archetype of freedom, the Oedipus + wish is essentially "sexual craving." Its natural object is, not simply the + mother qua mother, but the mother qua woman -- female principle of + gratification. Here the Eros of receptivity, rest, painless and integral + satisfaction is nearest to the death instinct (return to the womb), the + pleasure principle nearest to the Nirvana principle. Eros here fights its first + battle against everything the reality principle stands for: against the father, + against domination, sublimation, resignation. Gradually then, freedom and + fulfillment are being associated with these paternal principles; freedom from + want is sacrificed to moral and spiritual independence. It is first the "sexual + craving" for the mother-woman that threatens the psychical basis of + civilization; it is the "sexual craving" that makes the Oedipus conflict the + prototype of the instinctual conflicts between the individual and his society. + If the Oedipus wish were in essence nothing more than the wish for protection + and security ("escape from freedom"), if the child desired only impermissible + security and not impermissible pleasure, then the Oedipus complex would indeed + present an essentially educational problem. As such, it can be treated without + exposing the instinctual danger zones of society. + +### 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 + 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. + + [...] + + The "automatization" of the superego 25 indicates the defense mechanisms by + which society meets the threat. The defense consists chiefly in a strengthening + of controls not so much over the instincts as over consciousness, which, if + left free, might recognize the work of repression in the bigger and better + satisfaction of needs. The manipulation of consciousness which has occurred + throughout the orbit of contemporary industrial civilization has been described + in the various interpretations of totalitarian and "popular cultures": + co-ordination of the private and public existence, of spontaneous and required + reactions. The promotion of thoughtless leisure activities, the triumph of + anti- intellectual ideologies, exemplify the trend. + + [...] + + But these personal father-images have gradually disappeared behind the + institutions. With the rationalization of the productive apparatus, with the + multiplication of functions, all domination assumes the form of administration. + At its peak, the concentration of economic power seems to turn into anonymity: + everyone, even at the very top, appears to be powerless before the movements + and laws of the apparatus itself. Control is normally administered by offices + in which the controlled are the employers and the employed. + + [...] + + Most of the clichés with which sociology describes the process of + dehumanization in presentday mass culture are correct; but they seem to be + slanted in the wrong direction. What is retrogressive is not mechanization and + standardization but their containment, not the universal co-ordination but its + concealment under spurious liberties, choices, and individualities. The high + standard of living in the domain of the great corporations is restrictive in a + concrete sociological sense: the goods and services that the individuals buy + control their needs and petrify their faculties. In exchange for the + commodities that enrich their life, the individuals sell not only their labor + but also their free time. The better living is offset by the all-pervasive + control over living. People dwell in apartment concentrations -- and have + private automobiles with which they can no longer escape into a different + world. They have huge refrigerators filled with frozen foods. They have dozens + of newspapers and magazines that espouse the same ideals. They have innumerable + choices, innumerable gadgets which are all of the same sort and keep them + occupied and divert their attention from the real issue -- which is the + awareness that they could both work less and determine their own needs and + satisfactions. + + The ideology of today lies in that production and consumption reproduce and + justify domination. But their ideological character does not change the fact + that their benefits are real. The repressiveness of the whole lies to a high + degree in its efficacy: it enhances the scope of material culture, facilitates + the procurement of the necessities of life, makes comfort and luxury cheaper, + draws ever-larger areas into the orbit of industry -- while at the same time + sustaining toil and destruction. The individual pays by sacrificing his time, + his consciousness, his dreams; civilization pays by sacrificing its own + promises of liberty, justice, and peace for all. + + The discrepancy between potential liberation and actual repression has come to + maturity: it permeates all spheres of life the world over. The rationality of + progress heightens the irrationality of its organization and direction. + Social cohesion and administrative power are sufficiently strong to protect the + whole from direct aggression, but not strong enough to eliminate the + accumulated aggressiveness. It turns against those who do not belong to the + 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. + + [...] + + As an isolated individual phenomenon , the reactivation of narcissistic libido + is not culture-building but neurotic: The difference between a neurosis and a + sublimation is evidently the social aspect of the phenomenon . A neurosis + isolates; a sublimation unites. -- cgit v1.2.3