Jonah Bossewitch	November 24, 1995

PSY 365	Professor Sugarman

Civilization and its Discontents (2-3)

In this work Freud steps back from his earlier vantage point of the individual and reflects on the implications of his theory for mankind. It sometimes seems as if Freud is overextending himself by attempting to tackle major philosophical questions that are outside of his previous domain. However, it is certainly fascinating to hear him finally come out and say what we have had to infer up until now. First gives his answer to the question 'what is the meaning of life?' and he responds (unsurprisingly) that it is happiness as governed by the pleasure principle. Next he outlines the three potential sources of conflict and pain in our lives that work against this goal: the external forces of nature, the internal decay of our own bodies, and the relationships we have with other people. He distinguishes between three types of strategies that people use to combat these forces "powerful deflections, which cause us to make light of our misery; substitutive satisfactions, which diminish it; and intoxicating substances, which make us insensitive to it." He goes on to enumerate examples of these strategies in action, such as the hermit, the artist/scientist, the religious man, the lover, the yogi, and the addict. The perplexing question which Freud is left with is whether Civilization assists us in achieving our purpose in life or is it in reality working against us?