Rod:
It was me, but I disavow the label Freud scholar (though I play
one when I teach History of Psychology). In _Civilization and its
Discontents_ are these passages (section v.): my comments in [].
On "Love thy neighbour":
"My love is something valuable to me which I ought not throw
away without reflection. It imposes duties on me for whose fulfillment I
must be ready to make sacrifices" [then, after laying out the conditions
under which we naturally love ..] " ... if he is a stranger to me and if he
cannot attract to me by any worth of his own or any significance that he
may already have acquired for my emotional life, it would be hard for me to
love him. Indeed, I should be wrong to do so, for my love is valued by all
my own people as a sign of my preferring them, and it is an injustice to
them if I put a stranger on a par with them. But if I am to love him (with
this universal love) merely because he, too, is an inhabitant of this earth,
like an insect, an earth-worm or a grass-snake, then I fear that only a
small modicum of my love will fall to his share - not by any possibility as
much as, by the judgment of my reason, I am entitled to retain for myself.
What is the point of a precept enunciated with so much solemnity if its
fulfillment cannot be recommended as reasonable?" .... " . . . I must
confess he [i.e. strangers] has more claim to my hostility and even my
hatred. He seems not to have the least trace of love for me . . ." . . . ".
. . he thinks nothing of jeering at me, insulting me, slandering me and
showing his superior power; and the more secure he feels and the more
helpless I am, the more certainty I can expect him to behave like this to
me." " . . . if he shows me consideration and forbearance as a stranger, I
am ready to treat him the same way." [Freud them claims to prefer "love thy
neighbour as thy neighbour loves thee"].
On "Love thine enemies": since there really is good and bad in the world,
loving enemies results in "... damage to the aims of civilization, for it
puts a positive premium on being bad." ... "... men are not gentle
creatures who want to be loved .... they are, on the contrary, creatures
among whose instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of
aggressiveness. As a result, their neighbour is not for them not only a
potential helper or sexual object, but also someone who tempts them to
satisfy their aggressiveness on him, to exploit his capacity without
compensation, to use him sexually without his consent, to seize his
possessions, to humiliate him, to cause him pain, to torture and to kill
him. Homo homini lupus [man is a wolf to man]. Who, in the face of all his
experience of liufe and of history, will have the courage to dispute this
assertion?"
Interestingly, on the "love neighbor" part, evolutionary psychologist Buss
(in "A Dangerous Passion") have made similar comments about love vis-a-vis
jealousy. Since the resources of love are finite (trying to love everyone
results in shallow gestures), jealousy, he argues, is an adaptation designed
to protect your investment (my words, not Buss's).
============================================
John W. Kulig
Professor of Psychology
Plymouth State College
Plymouth NH 03264
============================================
"Live simply that others may simply live"
Contemporary saying.
-----Original Message-----
From: Hetzel, Rod [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 7:29 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Subject: RE: Freud and humanity
Thanks for the reference, Cecil. I'm looking forward to reading it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. Cecil Hutto [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thu 9/11/2003 10:45 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Cc:
Subject: Re: Freud and humanity
I found "The Question of God" to be an interesting read. However, I thought
the author attempted too often to make implications about Freud's personal
life/behaviors that were unnecessary. And I should say that I'm a
behaviorist and no great fan of Freud or his theories.
Cecil
Hetzel, Rod wrote:
Hey folks. Someone made a passing reference in one of our recent
religion discussions about how Freud believed that people were too
inherently self-centered (or something else) to truly "turn the other
cheek" or love others. Can someone point me to some of Freud's writing
where he discussed this? I'm hoping our resident Freud scholar can
offer some guidance on this!
On a related note, does anyone have a review of the next text, "The
Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and
the Meaning of Life"? It's on my list of must-reads but I haven't
gotten around to it yet.
Rod
______________________________________________
Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
LeTourneau University
Post Office Box 7001
2100 South Mobberly Avenue
Longview, Texas 75607-7001
Office: Education Center 218
Phone: 903-233-3893
Fax: 903-233-3851
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel
-----Original Message-----
From: DeVolder Carol L [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 1:55 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Subject: RE: IQ
Thanks for a good discussion
I'm trying to not commit the same errors I usually make and
clog the list with what some might see as irrelevant material
Cheers,
Jim
I've enjoyed all of your discussions of this very much
(although I must admit, I felt sort of ignorant in the
presence of you scholars). I have a question that is only
slightly related to this discussion...
There is/was a practice of mortification of sins (or so I've
been told), in which the sinner beat the guilt out of himself
(OK, I admit, my understanding is vague, please correct me on
this, I'd appreciate it). My real question is this: Does
anyone know anything about the concept of mortification of
memory? It has to do with purging one's self of sinful
memories or something like that. I'm presently involved in
research on directed forgetting/instructed ignoring and see a
historical precursor.
Thanks for any help that anyone can give me.
Carol
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Dr. Cecil Hutto, PHONE: 318-342-1347, EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED],
ADDRESS: Psychology Department, ULM, Monroe, LA 71209-0260
http://www.ulm.edu/~chutto/hutto
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