Chapter 3 - Freud
Freud classed himself as a scientist and had the greatest influence on Anglo-American philosophical thought throughout the 21st century. Although very few classed themselves as Freudians those who engaged in teaching the philosophy of the mind, ethics or philosophy of religion were forced to explain and interoperate of Freud’s ideas. Born in 1856 after moving to Vienna with his family Freud later trained as a doctor in the university there where he specialized initially in brain anatomy.
In 1895, Freud published a work on hysteria which presented an original analysis of mental illness. Gradually Freud refrained from using hypnosis as a treatment and replaced it with psychoanalysis ‘nothing more than an exchange of words between patient and doctor. From these sessions of psychoanalysis Freud became convinced that the relevant psychological traumas dated back to infancy and had a sexual content.
In 1900 Freud published the most important of his works The Interpretation of Dreams, in which he argued that ‘dreams no less than neurotic symptoms were a coded expression of repressed sexual desires’. This was followed a year later by The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.
In 1923 Freud published The Ego and the Id, which presented a new anatomy of the unconscious mind. In 1927 Freud presented a deflationary account on the origin of religion The Future of an Illusion; although he was an atheist himself his did identify with jewish culture; so when psychoanalysis was banned by the Nazis Freud was forced to immigrate to England. Freud later suffered from cancer of the jaw for 16 years; on 23 September 1939 Freud died of a lethal injection of morphine administered by his physician by his own request.
Between 1915 and 1917, Freud delivered a set of introductory lectures which summed up psychoanalytic theory in two fundamental theses. ‘The first is that the greater part of our mental life, whether of feeling, thought, or violation, is unconscious. The second is that sexual impulses, broadly defined, are supremely important not only as potential causes of mental illness but also as the motor of artistic and cultural creation.’ Freud believed that the existence of the unconscious is manifested in 3 different ways; ‘through everyday trivial mistakes, through reports of dreams, and through the symptoms of neurosis.’ Towards the end of his life, Freud replaced the conscious and unconscious with the mental apparatus he wrote in The Ego and The Id with a threefold scheme of mind. ‘The id which is the repository of the instinctual impulses, ego which is the most superficial portion of the id; modified by the influence of the external world and the superego which develops out of the id, dominates the ego and represents the inhibitions of instinct that are characteristic of man.’
‘Freud has had an enormous influence on society – in relation to sexual mores, to our understanding of mental illness, to our appreciation of art and literature, and on interpersonal relationships of many kinds’.
Chapter 8: Philosophy of the Mind
Bentham on intention and motive
· Bentham’s principles of morals and legislation contained a detailed analysis of human action focusing on people’s intentions and motives. His approach to the topic has been said to have been similar to that of Aquinas, however they differ in both terminology and moral evaluation.
· For Aquinas action was only intentional if it was chosen as a means to an end; to solve something. Therefore if it was unavoidable: a voluntary choice but not done intentionally it as not considered an action by Aquinas. Bentham disliked the word ‘voluntary’ because sometimes it meant willing or uncoerced but could also mean spontaneous; he preferred the use of the word ‘intentional’. However, they both distinguished between two kinds of intention. A consequence may be either directly intentional or obliquely intentional. For Bentham though an incident that is directly intentional maybe ultimately or mediately intentional depending on whether it could have been viewed as a motive for a future event.
· Betham looked at the death of King William II who died while hunting from a wound cause by Sir Walter Tyrell, Bentham looked at the possible degrees of consciousness and intentionality in Tyrell’s thoughts and actions and classified them under 5 categories: unintentional, obliquely intentional, directly intentional, mediately intentional and ultimately intentional.
· Bentham’s terminology was to define intention in purely cognitive terms; in order understand what a person intended you only need to find out what they know not what they wanted to become a consequence of a certain action. However, an act is only unintentional only if the chance of what you intend may have unforeseen consequences. For Bentham intention is the main measure for the moral and legal evaluation of actions.
· Bentham explains that we should not consider intentions to be good or bad in themselves, but that they are either derived from a good or bad motive or deemed to achieve good or bad consequences. The goodness or badness of someone’s actions however can only be judged if the resulting consequences are bad because the person was aware of the circumstances in his conscious mind before making the said intention.
· Bentham classifies the different possible degrees of such consciousness in the ninth chapter of his book. He claims if a man is aware of a circumstance when he acts then his act is said to have been an advised act; otherwise an unadvised act it not.
· Bentham makes a distinction between intentions and motives as a man’s intentions may be good but his motives bad.
Reason, Understanding, and Will
· Kant’s theory distinguishes between understanding and reason from his studies focusing on the differences between human and animal cognitive faculties. ‘Understanding, as well as, sensation is something animals share with humans’ however humans unlike animals have the ability of reasoning, they can reflect on their actions which places humans above animals in ‘both power and in suffering’. Animals only live in the present where as humans live in the past, present and future. Reason does however, confer three ‘gifts’ on humans; language, freedom and science, of which language is the most important and essential.
· Abstract knowledge is not always needed for everyday tasks we do not always need to understand the functioning of every action. We don’t always need to know how something works but instead how to make something work. Although when long-term planning is necessary abstract knowledge is essential.
The Freudian unconscious
· The majority of our daily actions and thoughts are from our unconscious mind.
· There are 3 levels of Freudian unconscious and 3 ways that reveal the Freudian unconscious in itself; trivial everyday mistakes, recalling dreams and neurotic symptoms. However he claims that these are parapraxes and although unconscious they may not be a ‘mistake’ as they could have a hidden motive. By understanding the beliefs from the person who has made a ‘Freudian slip’ it helps us become aware of these hidden motives.
· Freud claimed dreams were almost always the fulfilment of a repressed wish, although they are not always obvious as we dream in ‘code’, however nightmares seem to show the opposite.
· Freud does claim that he doesn’t believe in a universal coding for dreams. It is only possible to ‘un-code’ a dream if you are aware of the specific symbolic meaning to each dreamer, it is easy to put any sexual references in to un-coding dreams.
· Neurotic symptoms can be understood when it becomes apparent the subconscious reasons as to why we are doing something. There is always an underlying reason as to why we do something that we are not consciously aware of.
· The 3 levels of Freudian unconscious ‘id, ego and superego’ ; id is the unconscious which is ruled by the pleasure principle, ego represents reason and common sense and superego punishes the behaviour of the ego.
Philosophical psychology in the Tractatus
· Wittgenstein constructed a different model of the mind. He claimed a thought was a logical picture of facts.
Intentionality
Wittgenstein’s later philosophy of mind
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