Beyond the Pleasure Principle by Sigmund Freud

Beyond the Pleasure Principle by Sigmund Freud

 

It is a common belief that acquiring knowledge can empower an individual for the notion of facts and truths guides a person on how to proceed on things that must be attended to. In every decision an individual makes, comprehension and weighing of information play a vital role on what and how certain actions and attitudes will be conceptualized and performed. Psychology is the study of mind and behavior in relation to a particular field of knowledge or activity. It is also the mental or the behavioral characteristics of an individual or group. Others define It is as the science of consciousness. But all of these gives function to the meaning that would help people understand the thought of it.

 

Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 to a wool merchant and his second wife at a small town called Freiberg in Moravia.   Freud had two older half-brothers and six younger siblings.  His family moved to Vienna, Austria when he was about four or five and he spent most of his life there.  Freud had been a smart student in medical school.  He had much interest in neurophysiology research. He then established his own practice of neuropsychiatry after marrying his long-time fiancée Martha Bernays.  Freud’s books and lectures brought him both fame and criticism from the medical community.  He inspired a number of brilliant followers who became the forerunners of the psychoanalytic movement.  Unfortunately, Freud had some disagreement with those who questioned his teachings.  Some of his companions separated from him on friendly terms; others did not, and went on to found competing schools of thought.  Freud immigrated to England just before World War II when Vienna became an increasingly dangerous place for the Jews.  Not long afterward on September 23, 1939, he died of cancer of the mouth and jaw that he had suffered for the last twenty years of his life. 

 

Sigmund Freud is widely known as the founding father of psychoanalysis and probably the most influential theorist and practitioner in the field of psychology to date.  He took people to the world of the “unconscious” where he introduced lust, rage and repression battle for supremacy; and changed the way people view themselves. Freud’s most widely known and studied works are his theories about the motivating force of the libido, his descriptions of the effect of childhood experiences on the adult psyche, and his theories of dreams, the mind, and the unconscious. The work of Freud marked the onset of a modern psychology by establishing the first systematic explanation of the inner mental forces determining human behavior.  Under his influence, psychoanalysis became the dominant modern theory of human psychology and a major tool of research, as well as an important method of psychiatric treatment which currently has thousands of practitioners all over the world.

 

Freud’s works centered on a great variety of psychological and social problems.  They ranged from the sources of artistic creativeness to the origins of religious beliefs, from the beginnings of conscience and morality to the profound importance of early family relations, from the evolution of savagery into what civilization people posses to the nature of the deficiencies so easy to perceive in this.  Freud proposed that people experience conflicts between the dictates of the Id (personal desires and wants) and what the Superego represents (standards, norms and taboos of society).  This conflict is resolved, to a greater or lesser extent, by the Ego which has the responsibility to mediate between the Id and the Superego and strike a balance.  Freud also viewed religion as rooted in the child’s relationship to the father which gave rise to the belief on God as the Heavenly Father.  

 

The motives which have led men to make a scientific study of their conscious processes are numerous and varied in character. Perhaps the most common of all these motives is to be found in the exceptional and baffling experiences which every one has from time to time. Many famous thinkers, however, have paid tribute to the greatness and uniqueness of Freud’s achievements.  His works are studied not only by mental health professionals, but by students of philosophy, humanities, art, literature, and culture as well.  Many of Freud’s concepts have also been popularized by their usage in novels, movies, and self-help movements.

 

The definition of right and wrong, of good and bad, and of what is normal and not have has been inculcated since the time we became conscious of our existence. We have always been guided and constrained with the norms and rules of behaving in the social world we live in. Anything that contradicts and breaks the expectations set by the social institutions that have the greatest influence in the way we should behave stigmatizes us and characterizes our actions as deviant or beyond normal. These have been the characteristics of the piloted theories and studies that Sigmund Freud welcomed despite the social constraints that challenged his principles and ideas regarding psychoanalysis.

 

In any professional discipline, it is notable the relevance of development and progress not just of knowledge that governs the field but most importantly of the application and benefits of the implementation as well as sharing of a particular body of thought. When the complexity of the nature, source and limit of a particular knowledge is exposed in terms of the perspective used by a person, conflict on what point of view to follow along with the beliefs and values a person holds, most often than not determines the behavior, given that the person is a ware of the possible principles and truths he or she could consider. Resolving the conflict of different truths presents the various kinds of knowledge and its numerous sources and dynamics resulting to different studies that tried to answer and give light on the confusion brought about by the bulk of information available.

 

Psychology has been defined as the science of consciousness, or as the science of experience subjectively regarded. Each definition has advantages, but no one so far suggested is free from objection. It is most satisfactory to give up the attempt to find a single word that will designate the facts covered by psychology, and to indicate the actual phenomena that it studies which is the evidences of mind. As such, it is always important to be open to new ideas and skills being provided by teachers.  Taking part and contributing on the studies that can provide improvements in the education system of the country for the betterment of the future social community should be emphasized among students.  Their role as successors of the future society should be realized and inculcated early on.  Recognizing the importance of education not just a means of completing a stage in this existence but by realizing the advantages and added value that learning provides to each individual should be a motivation and driving force to become a person worthy of appreciation in the future.

 

We are negatively perceived by people when we look and act contrary to the expectations set by the people around us. This holds true because of the defined guidelines agreed upon by the institutions in the society and the majority of the people. The rightist, conservative and strict rules and norms uphold in the society brought the different types of stereotyping individuals and actions which sadly could result to upholding the black and white perception of things and people. It is clear that it was not the absence of regulations and policies made some of the individuals to exhibit deviant acts. It was the lack of reinforcement that paved the way for the specific people to do otherwise.    

 

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