Question

what is the philosophy of Sigmund Freud

Answer 1

• Sigmund Freud was one of the most influential psychologist, physiologist and philosopher of the mind belonging to the twentieth century. With the help of his colleague Joseph Breuer, he developed the theory of the mind as a complex energy structure.
• Freud’s most important contribution to humanity in general and psychology in particular is the development of psychoanalysis, a practice devised to treat the mentally ill through dialogue.
• The famous theory of Unconsciousness presented by Freud is one of its kind, in which he presents the idea that a large portion of human attitudes can be explained through mental processes and resulting actions which are not clearly visible.
• Thus the centuries-long approach of deeming the behavior of a neurotic patient as unexplainable is a faulty one, according to Freud.
• Rather, the odd behavior can be critically observed to draw out the causes explaining it, so as to treat it. Slips of tongue and dreams can act as a doorway through which the hidden causes of his mental ailments can be recognized.
• This gives rise to the notion that us mortals are not completely free to act according to one’s will, and there are some mental processes running in the background which determine our deeds.
• Freud further said that the unconscious consists of the thoughts and feelings which humans have repressed over the years, usually tracing back to events taking place in the childhood.
• These suppressed thoughts return to the wakeful mind under certain circumstances, such as hypnosis. This leads to the fact that humans are not even unaware of their own thoughts and ideas.
• He theorized that frustrated psychological energy — the libido — became misdirected and often ended up caught deep in the mind, which made it interfere with normal human behavior.
• Freud believed that all human actions were based on the drive to fill essential needs like eating, sleeping, or having sex. From his contemporaries and his followers, Freud has received criticism for the emphasis his theories place on the human sex drive.
• In his development of psychoanalysis, he created a type of talk therapy designed to allow patients to release repressed or forgotten memories that continued to affect their physical and mental wellbeing.
• Freud also developed a system to interpret dreams through predictable symbols. He constructed theories about child development and the importance of parenting that sparked wide-scale social change concerning child welfare.
• He explored phobias and fears and was interested in constructing therapies to help people with extreme problems control their emotional reactions to fearful triggers.
• Freud’s talk therapy theories are still put into practice today, as patients with psychological trauma continue to find relief in his methods. While most helpful for psychology and psychiatry, the impact of neo-Freudian theory can be seen in physics, biology, and animal sciences too.
• Freud’s writings contain a philosophy of mind, and indeed a philosophy of mind that addresses many of the issues about the mental that nowadays concern philosophers and ought to concern psychologists. Freud’s thinking about the issues in the philosophy of mind is better than much of what goes on in contemporary philosophy.
• The sketch of Freud’s conception of the architecture of the mind, and its implications for the science of psychology, are just two strands – albeit two very important ones – of the rich philosophical tapestry of his thinking.
• Whatever one might think of the particular empirical claims that Freud advanced – notions such as the Oedipus complex, the mechanisms of defence, and the theory of dreaming – there is another, relatively unrecognised, aspect of Freud’s thinking: a profoundly philosophical dimension that promises rich intellectual rewards to anyone who cares to pursue it.