And as this desired interaction does not always come easily, we can naturally see the point of introducing psychoanalysis to our lives. By contrast, I shall develop and defend an anti-rationalist view, to the effect that an inherently irrational superego is no threat to morality’s place in human life, as long as it’s capable of making us experience an integrated form of life. I argue that both the deflationist and the rationalist view are untenable, as they fail to distinguish among different senses of irrationality that we can attribute to morality. In this paper I shall consider three views on Freud’s moral psychology, which I call the “deflationist”, the “rationalist”, and the “anti-rationalist” view. London: Hogarth Press.ĭeflationism, Rationalism, and Anti-Rationalism: Three Views of Superego Moralityįreud, Klein, Moral Psychology, Psychoanalysis, the SuperegoĪBSTRACT: Philosophers of psychoanalysis have for years been debating over Freud’s criticism of morality as a sheer product of irrationality originated in our superego development. The totem animal for Freud reveals a human desire for other species, a fundamental biophilia, but Freud makes clear that the animal’s value is primarily utilitarian, springing as it does from its usefulness in expressing complex psychological structures, wishes, and fantasies that remain largely hidden in conscious life. (Trans.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIII.
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