Post University
Sigmund Freud is a famous Austrian founder of psychoanalysis who created a modern approach to psychotherapy based on the deep investigation of human psyche and observation of the individual patient's neuroses, childhood psychological trauma and blocks. Freud was not only a notable psychiatrist who consulted numerous members of the European nobility and business world, but also a person who contributed to the development of the Western European philosophy, psychology and social science (Sharf, 1996, p. 29). It is his position at the intersection of traditional psychotherapy and humanities that made his contribution so influential among his contemporaries and future generations. The main innovation of Freud's paradigm is the rejection of naive idealistic philosophy of mind developed in German Idealism and the 19th century psychology (Freud, 2010, p. 201). According to this approach, the human subject/mind is a pure reflection of some logical and moral laws, which is contaminated by sensations and bodily impulses (Pincard, 2002, p. 45). This body-mind dualism was introduced to philosophy by the Christian theology that is known for its negative attitude to body as a source of all sins and perversions. Immanuel Kant was among the first philosophers to give this theological concept a philosophic grounding (Pederson, 2015, pp. 5-8).
Freud demonstrated that the human psyche involves numerous contradictions and psychological problems that make it impossible to treat it as a pure and rational entity. In contrast, Freud believed that the human subject is torn apart by numerous irrational forces that constitute the nature of his mind and reflect primordial instincts and animal nature (Freud, 1910, p.202). This hypothesis provoked a scandal when was first proposed by Freud to the judgment of scientific community. However, as the history proved, this bold hypothesis revealed much about the irrational nature of human personality that emerged out of bloody wars in the 20th century.
In his work The ego and the id written in 1923 Freud proposed his structural concept of human psyche that consists of three interconnected levels: id, ego and super-ego. These structural components do not directly reflect the brain's somatic and physiological structure, but rather express the dynamic relationship between human biological constraints and instincts, individual personal arrangements, goals and ideals, and social, cultural and environmental constraints that act as regulatory principles of human behavior (Pederson, 2015, p. 49). This structural concept underwent significant evolution in Freud's subsequent work. In particular, in his New Introductory Lectures written in 1933 Freud stated that super-ego arises from parental authority and family limitations, which are, however, decreased in the adulthood. This hypothesis led Freud to define four levels of human development marked by a gradual transition from parental authority to social institutions and culture as the main sources of super-ego barriers. Sigmund Freud defined these stages as autoerotic, the narcissistic, the anal, and the phallic phases (Freud, 2010).
Id (translated 'it' from Latin) is the main locus of irrational human desires, drives and instincts (Freud, 2010). Since Id reflects the biological nature of human beings, it becomes a crucial part of human psyche immediately after the birth. Id covers all basic human wants, including sexual desires and aggressive behavior (Reber, 1985, p. 143). Along with id Freud defined libido as a primordial and irrational sexual energy that does not take constraints of reality into account at all (Freud, 1910). In contrast, it acts as an inner impulse that actualizes biological desires and wants. According to Freud, the id's functioning is based on the 'pleasure principle'. This principle addresses the human tendency to seek immediate satisfaction of their inner impulses and the desire to avoid pain and displeasure associated with the failure to realize one's instincts (Freud 2010, p.20). Together with libido, id constitutes what Freud calls unconscious dimension of human psyche (Freud, 1933). This dimension is chaotic and irrational, because it imposes certain constraints on individuals who do not even know the cause of their wants, neuroses and other psychological problems. Also, Id does not contain any moral constraints and limitations imposed by society.
In contrast to id, Freud defines ego as a rational and conscious dimension of human personality. Ego is similar to subject (logical and rational entity) in rational philosophies of Descartes, Hegel and Kant (Pincard, 2002, p.51). However, unlike these philosophers, Freud believes that ego exists in the dynamic relationship with id and super-ego. Ego is a mediator between id and reality that seeks to please the id impulses in a realistic manner to benefit a person in the long run (Freud 2010, p.34). Thus, ego operates by the reality principle that seeks to adjust irrational demands of id with real-world constraints like law, morality and needs of other people (e.g. family) (Freud, 1910). Ego is a fundamental part of what psychologists term consciousness and mind. It contains various cognitive, executive, mnemonic, defensive and perceptual attributes that constitute consciousness and human awareness of one's own existence (Reber 1985, p.153). In general, ego attempts to optimize and organize human thoughts, things and environment to make them rational and logical. In this view, it is built on reason and common sense in contrast with Id that is based on irrational impulses and drives. To describe the relationship between ego and id, Freud uses the metaphor of a horseman, who has to control the superior power of horse to be able to ride (Freud, 1933, p. 77). Similarly, ego has to control the irrational power of Id to make it possible for person to live in a human society (Freud 2010, p.42). At the same time, ego is dependent on super- ego that even further imposes constraints on the realization of Id's wants. Therefore, ego tries to achieve balance and harmony between super-ego moral demands and id's biological impulses. To fulfill this, ego uses various defensive mechanisms including fantasy, compensation, rationalization, repression and sublimation among others (Freud, 2010).
Freud defines super-ego as a moral and cultural authority imposed on human beings by family and society that prohibits inner drives of id and constructs ego's ideal and spiritual goals. According to Reber (1985), “The super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt. For example, for having extra-marital affairs" (p.145). In essence, super-ego acts as an inner critique of ego and, therefore, runs in opposition with this personality level. Super-ego urges a person to act in a socially adequate and appropriate way by conforming to established moral principles, norms and social limitations. Its main mechanism is the feeling of guilt that makes a person refrain from actions that compromise morality and established norms.
According to Freud, the super-ego is a symbolic reincarnation of the father figure in society and culture, because similarly to the Father's authority it is based on various taboos and rejections. As Freud puts it, "The super-ego retains the character of the father, while the more powerful the Oedipus complex was [], the stricter will be the domination of the super- ego over the ego later on—in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt” (Freud, 2010, p. 59). This individual super-ego is closely associated with a so-called cultural super-ego described by Freud in his famous book Civilization and Its Discontents (Reber, 1985). Cultural super-ego is embedded in cultural norms of ethics and morality that constitute civilization. Together with individual super-ego, cultural super- ego forms a system of taboos and limitations that prohibit id's desires from full realization.
References
Freud, S. (1910). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychology, 21(2), 196–218. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1413001
Freud, S. (1933). New Introductory Lectures (p. 64). London, L. and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, and the Institute of Psycho-analysis.
Freud, S. (2010). The ego and the id. [LaVergne, Tenn.]: Pacific Publishing Studio.
Pederson, Trevor (2015). The economics of libido: Psychic bisexuality, the superego, and the centrality of the Oedipus complex (pp. 5-8, 49). London: Karnac.
Pinkard, T. (2002). German philosophy, 1760-1860 (pp. 45, 51). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Reber, A. S. (1985): id; ego; super-ego. The Penguin dictionary of psychology (pp. 84, 143, 145). New York: Penguin.
Sharf, R. (1996). Theories of psychotherapy and counseling (p. 29). Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.
