> Mike Ballard wrote: > > I see humans (and most humans are workers at this > > stage in history) as having an instinct for > freedom. > > According to my reading of Freud, this instinct is > > repressed in order to maintain civilization i.e. > > whatever class society exists at the moment.
> --- Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This was stated with much more force in Rousseau. > Plus, in Rousseau you > didn't get all sorts of nonsense about interpreting > dreams, etc. Rousseau's, "'Noble Savage' is an idealized stereotype of indigenous people as found throughout the world. Its features include the exaltation of the character in wilderness settings, an exaggeration of physical prowess, a simplistic interpretation of the indigenous world view, and an assignment of lofty virtues and innocence to the common man." http://www.mvc.dcccd.edu/ArtScien/Engl/INSTRUCT/grimes/2327/BC-Primitivism.html "The concept of man that emerges from Freudian theory is the most irrefutable indictment of Western civilization and at the same time the most unshakable defense of this civilization. According to Freud, the history of man is the history of his repression. Culture constrains not only his societal but also his biological existence, not only parts of the human being but his instinctual structure itself. However, such constraint is the very precondition of progress. Left free to pursue their natural objectives, the basic instincts of man would be incompatible with all lasting association and preservation: they would destroy even where they unite. The uncontrolled Eros is just as fatal as his deadly counterpart, the death instinct. Their destructive force derives from the fact that they strive for a gratification which culture cannot grant: gratification as such and as an end in itself, at any moment. The instincts must therefore be deflected from their goal, inhibited in their aim. Civilization begins when the primary objective — namely, integral satisfaction of needs — is effectively renounced." http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/works/eros-civilisation/ch01.htm Eric Fromm wrote: > >... potentialities. A puritan-protestant inheritance > of > > self-denial, the necessity of subordinating the > > individual to the demands of production and > profit, > > have made for conditions from which Fascism could > > spring. > > I wasn't aware that Spain, Portugal and Italy were > particularly > puritan-protestant. > I wasn't aware that the fascistic Catholics of Spain, Portugual and Italy in the 20th Century weren't proclaiming the need for "self-denial, the necessity of subordinating the individual to the demands of production and profit"--via Corporatist ideology and State supported violence. Best, Mike B) ===== **************************************************************** Each day a few more lies eat into the seed with which we are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen. Norman Mailer http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
