HCJ3: Freud (again).

These are the notes that I made for the seminar on Thursday.

In lectures that Freud gave between 1915 and 1917 he summed up psychoanalytic theory in two fundamental theses. The first is that the greater part of our mental life (includes feeling, thought and volition) is unconscious. The second is that sexual impulses are the motor of artistic and cultural creation.

If the sexual element of works of art and culture remain unconscious, this is because socialisation demands the sacrifice of basic instincts. These can be diverted towards socially acceptable activities, but unsatisfied instincts may 'take revenge' through mental illness.

The existence if the unconscious is apparent through everyday mistakes, reports of dreams and symptoms of neurosis. The exercise of free association in analysis reveals the underlying pattern of the unconscious mind. The pattern focuses on sexual development (identified Freud) First off is the oral stage - where pleasure is focused on the mouth, secondly the anal stage, thirdly the phallic stage - where the child focuses on his penis. At this time, the boy is sexually attracted to his mother and resents his dad's possession of her, but the boy abandons his desires for his mother due to fear of retaliation from his dad, finally the child will identify himself with his dad, this is all known as the Oedipus complex which is a vital in any boy's life.

Although many philosophers and thinkers resent Freud's ideas and theories, it is undeniable the impact that the ideas they've had on society in relation to our sexual mores, understanding of mental illness and appreciation of art and books e.g. historians writing books on historical figures and analysing their actions based on the person's childhood experiences.

Freud believed that a slip of the tongue (failure to recall names) are not accidental as first thought and our 'errors' have hidden meanings. Freud uses an example from a lecture given by a Viennese professor who said "I have every intention of..." instead of "I have no intention of..." which was written on his script. A similar incident that I remember well was when the then Newcastle United manager Joe Kinnear said when talking about a player Charles N'Zogbia: "insomnia" instead of N'Zogbia. According to Freud, these slips uncover opinions we don't wish to express but say unconsciously.

Freud related sex to dreams e.g. seeing an umbrella in dream represents a penis and handbags relate to female genitalia. He said that dreams are actually repressed wishes and nightmares are the opposite. He also said that someone dreams certain things differently to someone else.