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Civilization and Its Discontents (Penguin Modern Classics) New Ed Edition, Kindle Edition

by Sigmund Freud (Author), David McLintock (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 816 ratings
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In what remains one of his most seminal papers, Freud considers the incompatibility of civilisation and individual happiness, and the tensions between the claims of society and the individual. We all know that living in civilised groups means sacrificing a degree of personal interest, but couldn't you argue that it in fact creates the conditions for our happiness? Freud explores the arguments and counter-arguments surrounding this proposition, focusing on what he perceives to be one of society's greatest dangers; 'civilised' sexual morality. After all, doesn't repression of sexuality deeply affect people and compromise their chances of happiness?
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0141182360
  2. Edition
    New Ed
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Penguin
  5. Publication date
    4 July 2002
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    1748 KB
  8. See all details
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Review

"This, written in 1930, on the eve of destruction as it were, is a summary of Freud's beliefs, the potted essence of his system as applied to the broad picture...[Freud was] a first-rate essayist. When away from the couch or the consulting room, he was as penetrating and beguiling a thinker as Montaigne."

-- "Guardian (London)"

About the Author

Sigmund Freud (18561939) was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002RI9K8Q
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin; New Ed edition (4 July 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1748 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 97 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 816 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Sigmund Freud

    Sigmund Freud

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in Moravia; between the ages of four and eighty-two his home was in Vienna: in 1938 Hitler's invasion of Austria forced him to seek asylum in London, where he died in the following year.

    His career began with several years of brilliant work on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. He was almost thirty when, after a period of study under Charcot in Paris, his interests first turned to psychology, and another ten years of clinical work in Vienna (at first in collaboration with Breuer, an older colleague) saw the birth of his creation, psychoanalysis. This began simply as a method of treating neurotic patients by investigating their minds, but it quickly grew into an accumulation of knowledge about the workings of the mind in general, whether sick or healthy. Freud was thus able to demonstrate the normal development of the sexual instinct in childhood and, largely on the basis of an examination of dreams, arrived at his fundamental discovery of the unconscious forces that influence our everyday thoughts and actions.

    Freud's life was uneventful, but his ideas have shaped not only many specialist disciplines, but the whole intellectual climate of the last half-century.

    See more on the author's page
  2. James Strachey

    James Strachey

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    James Strachey (1887-1967) was a British psychoanalyst, and, with his wife Alix, a noted translator of Sigmund Freud into English.

    See more on the author's page
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Satyamrit Kagti
5.0 out of 5 stars DELIVERY PROCESS AS INFORMED
Reviewed in India on 2 March 2023
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VERY SATISFIED
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Jarious Rickian
5.0 out of 5 stars Always Enjoy Sigmund
Reviewed in Canada on 5 January 2021
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Interesting stuff.
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maximiliano gil
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy barato
Reviewed in Spain on 9 November 2022
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Para ser una gran obra de la psicología, tiene un precio más que justo. Lo recomiendo.
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John P O'Byrne
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 May 2021
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Superb analysis of mankind's ills that ring so true today. Freud was a genius.
2 people found this helpful
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Yehezkel Dror
5.0 out of 5 stars CRUCIAL TEXT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Reviewed in the United States on 13 August 2018
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Leaving aside the second short text included in this volume and the introduction and rereading “Civilization and Its Discontents” after more than 20 years, I am more impressed than ever. The details of psychological depth processes are secondary to Freud’s deep understanding of THE fundamental problems of modern civilization -- which are increasingly of fatal potential.
As put by Freud “Much of mankind’s struggle is taken up with the task of finding a suitable, that is to say a happy accommodation, between the claims of the individual and the mass claims of civilization. One of the problems affecting the fate of mankind is whether such an accommodation can be achieved through a particular moulding of civilization or whether the conflict is irreconcilable (p. 42).
Freud continues and states frankly “I can no longer understand how we could have ignored the ubiquity of non-erotic aggression and destruction and failed to accord it its due place in the interpretation of life. (p 72); and “I take the view that the tendency to aggression is an original, autonomous disposition in man, and I return to my earlier contention that it represents the greatest obstacle to civilization…to gather together individuals, then families and finally tribes, peoples and nations in one great unit – humanity… These multitudes of human beings are to be libidinally bound to one another; necessity alone, the advantages of shared work, will not hold them together. However, this programme of civilization is opposed by man’s natural aggressive drive, the hostility of each against all and all against each. This aggressive drive is the descendant and principal representative of the death drive, which we have found beside Eros and which rules the world jointly with him. And now, I think, the meaning of the development of civilization is no longer obscure to us. This development must show us the struggle between Eros and death, between the life drive and the drive for destruction, as it is played out in the human race. This struggle is the essential content of all life; hence, the development of civilization may be described simply as humanity’s struggle for existence (p. 75).
towards the end comes the most crucial insight of all: “Human beings have made such strides in controlling the forces of nature that, with the help of these forces, they will have no difficulty in exterminating one another, down to the last man. They know this, and it is this knowledge that accounts for much of their present disquiet, unhappiness and anxiety” (p. 106).
Given nuclear weapons, climate change, gene editing and emerging nano technologies, Freud’s mind foresaw the fateful choices increasingly faces the human species and the inherent difficulties and perhaps impossibilities to cope with them. This is what makes “Civilization and Discontent” into a crucial text for the 21st century.
Professor Yehezkel Dror
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