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Civilization and its Discontents by Sigmund Freud

  • Writer: Emily Bilman
    Emily Bilman
  • Jun 30, 2023
  • 1 min read

Updated: Jun 27, 2025

I have been re-reading Freud's book written in 1928, the year before the Holocaust.

In the book, Freud argues that human beings are conditioned by their drives and

especially by their aggressiveness which he connects to the libido. What triggers man's aggression is the renunciation of his instincts as required by civilization and the fear

of not being loved because he is unable to conform to the demands of

the community. And that is the paradox that civilization confronts man with:

on the one hand aggressive the instincts must be renounced or sublimated while

on the other we have the need of wanting to be loved and appreciated. Finally,

the tension created between these two forces are summed up by Freud as

being the interminable fight between Eros, the forces of the libido, and Thanatos,

the forces of destructiveness and death.

 
 
 

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