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MARX & FREUD ON HUMAN NATURE.
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Compares ideas on human behavior, history, psychology & development of society.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Compares ideas on human behavior, history, psychology & development of society.
Paper Introduction:
Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud have different conceptions of human nature and different conceptions of how history develops from human actions and human nature. Marx considers human beings primarily as members of economic groups, while Freud considers human beings in terms of individual psychology and broader behaviors and psychological manifestations across populations. History for Marx is also an issue of economics, while for Freud history is shaped by the way the individual relates to his or her society. Marx centers on the economic and political and Freud on the inner life of the mind and the ways in which that manifests itself in human behavior. The two men have as their starting point a conception of human nature which shows why human beings behave as they do, and for both men the reasons for human behavior are hidden from view, hidden from the understanding of
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Human actions are rooted in men's laboractivities. You have seen how this was fulfilled.[5]In response, the working class should undertakes a revolution against thepetty bourgeoisie. BibliographyFreud, Sigmund. [4]Ibid., 2 4. The class struggle is the defining fact ofsocietal life and leads in time to the violent overthrow of the capitalistclass by the working class, producing the dictatorship of the proletariatefor a certain period until a completely classless society is produced. For both Marx and Freud, the forces they see as key to anunderstanding of human nature also are seen as creating tensions whichconstrain behavior and which in time may lead to some form of rebellion,whether violent rebellion against the economic system or a neuroticrebellion against the war between the inner forces of human nature. [5]Ibid., 246. When the individual either indulges in certainbehavior or realizes a propensity for certain behavior that would beproscribed by society and challenged by the super-ego, the result is guiltand a desire for punishment. For Marx, thehidden force is economic and involves the relationship of the human beingto labor, while for Freud the hidden force is found in theoreticalconstructs of the mind which govern different aspects of thought andbehavior and whose interaction produces the behavior we can see. Freud thus finds a relationship between theindividual life and history much as did Marx, but he finds it in terms ofhis conception of control over unwanted or undesirable natural impulses inboth areas rather than in terms of economic forces. [8]Ibid., 86. New York: W.W. That is, it servesas the source of the conscience. Human nature isbeing thwarted in this system, reshaped into an objectified thing, and onlythe abolition of private property will create a situation where true humannature, fulfilling itself in itself, can come to the fore.[2] Marx describes society as developing in history in a progressivefashion, moving from an earlier complexity toward a greater simplicitythrough the clash of social classes. The human being is defined in terms of work, production,and his or her relationship to what is produced. The first is all the knowledge and capacity that humanbeings have acquired so they can control the forces of nature and extractits wealth. Freud sees a relationship between the internal world and theexternal world that the ego has cast off through the super-ego: The super-ego torments the sinful ego with the same feeling of anxiety and is on the watch for opportunities of getting it punished by the external world.[8] Freud sees a connection between the development of the individual andthe development of society. New York: W.W. [3]Karl Marx, The Portable Karl Marx, Eugene Kamenka (ed.)(New York:Penguin, 1983), 2 4. As theindividual develops during the life cycle, the ego, or the sense of self,changes from encompassing everything to detaching itself from the externalworld and thus including only the inner world of the self. [2]Robert Nisbet, The Social Philosophers (New York: Washington SquarePress, 1973), 231-233. Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud have different conceptions of humannature and different conceptions of how history develops from human actionsand human nature. Marx had a conception of human history based on dialecticalmaterialism, which includes the sense that the determining factors in thedevelopment, relations, and institutions of mankind are not mystical orideological but economic. Human beings have to secure a livelihood, and to accomplishthis they organize their productive forces to operate throughout theeconomic spectrum. Freud writes, In this way one makes the first step towards the introduction of the reality principle which is to dominate future development. Marx derived the conceptof alienation from Hegel, who used the term differently to refer to atimeless condition of man's mind. The connections are not always clear orvisible to the limited vision of the human being, but they are there.Freud finds that the community can also develop a super-ego that influencescultural development. Civilization is in part ourawareness of history, and Freud says that there are two aspects of this tothe observer. The Essential Marx. Marx considers human beings primarily as members ofeconomic groups, while Freud considers human beings in terms of individualpsychology and broader behaviors and psychological manifestations acrosspopulations. It is at this stage that the individual develops a conscienceand a sense of guilt. The Social Philosophers. The cultural development of society and thecultural development of the individual are at all times interlocked eventhough we may not see how at the time. This exploitation of one class byanother produces class hostilities which are constant and which are basedon material inequalities. The Future of an Illusion. This differentiation, of course, serves the practical purpose of enabling one to defend oneself against sensations of unpleasure which one actually feels or with which one is threatened.[7] Freud developed an extensive system of mental interactions and mentalcomponents that affect human behavior. Human nature isthus a dynamic system in which behavior is produced by the interaction ofthese different components, and this is mirrored in the interactions amongindividuals and groups in society as well. The society that results is made up of social classes, with one classdominant at a given time based on the control of the means of production.Human nature is expressed in the way individuals relate to class and theway they are controlled by that relationship. Such work isimposed rather than voluntary. They donot own the means of production, while the capitalist who does sells theproduct of the labor of the workers. Norton, 1966.----------------------- [1]Saul K. The super-ego develops as a response to the development ofcivilization. For Marx, human nature reactsto the dynamics of the economic realm, while for Freud human nature reactstom the development of civilization itself and to the constraints suchdevelopment places on the world of nature from which humankind originallyderived. Marx finds a recurrent pattern inhistory, however: Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild- master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.[3]Marx finds greater complexity in earlier epochs based on social rank, whilehe sees his own era has having a simplified social system, with societydivided into two hostile camps, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, twoclasses that developed from earlier models: From the serfs of the Middle ages sprang the chartered burghers of the earliest towns. Norton, 1966.Freud, Sigmund. From these burgesses the first elements of the bourgeoisie were developed.[4]Marx also believed that while history had a direction in which it wasmoving, it could be helped by revolutionary action, such as he called forin The Communist Manifesto or in writings addressed to the proletariat inGermany calling for an uprising against the bourgeoisie: Brothers, already in 1848 we told you that the German liberal bourgeoisie would soon achieve control and at once turn its newly-won power against the workers. The two men have as their starting point a conception of humannature which shows why human beings behave as they do, and for both men thereasons for human behavior are hidden from view, hidden from theunderstanding of the majority of people responding to them. Freud seesevery person as having within certain destructive and anti-social forceswhich need to be curbed, while Marx sees conflict in economic terms as aninevitable class warfare leading to a new state of society. [7]Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (New York: W.W.Norton, 1966), 15. Freud describes civilization in terms of the forces it represents,and these are the forces which shape history. The ego and the super-ego are closely boundtogether. It is not the satisfaction of a specificneed but is rather the means for satisfying other needs. Marx's sense of human nature is seen in his concept of the force ofhistory, in his theory of revolution and of the class struggle leading torevolution, and especially in his concept of alienation based on economicrelationships. The ego is the residence of theself, and the super-ego is the policeman of the self. The super-ego is harsh, and itsinteraction with the ego produces a sense of guilt which leads to a needfor punishment. New York: Washington Square Press, 1973.Padover, Saul K. Padover, The Essential Marx (New York: New American Library,1978), 227. Human nature includesa natural freedom of behavior that has to be curtailed in civilization, butthis very act of curtailment leads to neuroses and other human responses tothe guilt that is created and the control that is exerted, or that isattempted to be exerted. Always at war in the individual are various forces such as love anddeath, ego and super-ego, super-ego and libido, and so on. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton, 1966), 4. Marx centers on the economic and political and Freud on the innerlife of the mind and the ways in which that manifests itself in humanbehavior. Norton, 1961.Nisbet, Robert. [9]Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion (New York: W.W. For Sigmund Freud, human nature is hidden in the mind and is producedby "the irremediable antagonism between the demands of instinct and therestrictions of civilization."[6] Human nature in the state of nature isthus one thing, while human nature in civilization has been reshaped andproduces a different form of alienation in the Freudian conception. Marx found there to be alienation in adifferent form in the individual's loss of control, of personal wholeness,an alienation that is basically economic. New York: New American Library, 1978.Strachey, James. Norton,1961), 6-7.----------------------- 1 Civilization isdescribed by Freud as something imposed on a resisting majority by aminority through power and coercion, and history is at least partially theinterplay of the resisting individual and the society of which he or she isa part, with its regulations, institutions, and commands.[9] While elements of Freud and Marx are similar, Marx places much moreemphasis on conflict in terms of social classes while Freud sees conflictin the interplay of the individual and the larger society. In some ways, this mirrors Marx'sinterest in economic relations and the distribution of wealth, and Freudalso sees these two strands as combined and intertwined. The second is all the regulations necessary to adjust therelations of human beings to one another and especially in terms of thedistribution of available wealth. "Introduction." In Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud. History for Marx is also an issue of economics, while forFreud history is shaped by the way the individual relates to his or hersociety. The control of the wishes and needs of the ego begins as asocial matter and then is internalized through the establishment of thesuper-ego. It is not timeless but is theresult of economic forces in capitalism and derives from private property.The work is external to the worker and is not part of his nature, so ratherthan fulfilling himself in the work he denies himself. The workers sell their laborand are alienated from the product of their labor because of it. Padover writes: "These material actions are theovermastering force in all social existence and relationships."[1]Everything else in life rests on this economic foundation. [6]James Strachey, "Introduction," in Civilization and ItsDiscontents, Sigmund Freud (New York: W.W.
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