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Action and Inaction in Freud and Foucault, 2008.
An exploration of Sigmund Freud's and Michel Foucault's theoretical models in relation to action and inaction as the core of civilization.
1,813 words (approx. 7.3 pages), 8 sources, MLA, £ 40.95
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Abstract
This paper explores how action and inaction with regard to Eros and its control or containment is at the core of civilization and has profoundly shaped Western models of the state and social order. The paper makes reference primarily to the works of Sigmund Freud and Michel Foucault in its discussion. It concludes that action and inaction can be seen as the key issues underlying both Freud's and Foucault's respective theoretical models of human social relations and Western civilization.
From the Paper
"From this perspective, the exploration of aspects of action and inaction in Freud and Foucault lead us to understand how each thinker, although in clearly different ways, conceived of the roles of erotic impulse and its repression as a core element of human civilization. As we have seen, while Freud regarded this collective repression as being analogous to the individual repression of erotic desire and action that leads to neuroses, Foucault extended this to a deeper historical understanding of this apparatus of sexual and social control, and also how this apparatus reveals the possibility of resistance. In this analysis, action and inaction can be seen as the key issues underlying both Freud's and Foucault's respective theoretical models of human social relations and Western civilization."
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Foucault and Freud, 2002.
Discusses Michel Foucault's "A History of Sexuality" and Sigmund Freud's "Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis".
1,369 words (approx. 5.5 pages), 2 sources, MLA, £ 31.95
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Abstract
This paper provides a summary of Michel's Foucault's "A History of Sexuality" in which he examines how dispersed forms of power, which are embedded in religious, scientific and social norms, create hegemonic ideas regarding proper discourses relating to pleasure and sexuality. The paper then looks at several lectures from Sigmund Freud's "Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis" in which he discusses how childhood traumas can keep a patient?s libido from its natural development, resulting in the perversion of sexual desires.
From the Paper
"In Lecture 18, Freud moved to discuss how neurosis can result from traumas that affect the unconscious. In traumatic neurosis, the problem stems from a traumatic situation in the patient's life. This leads to a patient's unconscious fixation, resulting in the obsessional behavior seen in neurotics. The task of the psychoanalyst is thus to help the patient delve into his or her unconscious, to remove the "amnesias" that block the patient from consciously dealing with the trauma that manifests in neurosis."
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A Reaction to Inaction: Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal', 2006.
A satirical review of Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal'.
1,673 words (approx. 6.7 pages), 3 sources, MLA, £ 37.95
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Abstract
The paper is a satirical review of Jonathan Swift's novel describing the attitudes of the English gentry towards the Irish citizens. The paper extrapolates the author's thoughts on solutions to Ireland's problems concentrating on the harsh impositions on the Irish peasants. Historically the Irish have been oppressed by the English and the author dwells on this theme throughout the paper. The paper concludes that the book was written to point out the economic and social problems facing the Irish and that it was time for serious examination and change.
From the Paper
"As to Swift's personal feelings towards the poor, we can only assume that he felt compassion. Some critics chose to see this compassion in a different light: "...he mentions that it is a melancholy object for him, having to see homeless people every day, or for the beggars' lifestyle. Upon first reading this, one may be led to believe that Swift is a compassionate writer attempting to feel the pain of the beggars. But as the story continues, a reader can look back and note that he is using a sarcastic tone and the only sad sight that he sees is the fact that people of his status have to deal with commoner" (studyworld.com). Swift makes no mention of not having compassion for the poor; even in the pompous voice that he used in the essay, the poor were still pitied to the point that cannibalism was seen as an alternative to aide in their plight. I think that Swift was trying to point out that not enough people in positions of power had compassion for the Irish and the situation that they found themselves in. There were too many poor to ignore the burgeoning situation, yet there were too few elites who were willing to take a stand on the social injustice and try to do anything about the atrocities that they saw."
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Freud on Art and Literature, 2001.
The paper looks at Freud?s conceptions about art and literature and the creative forces of motivation on an author.
2,953 words (approx. 11.8 pages), 7 sources, MLA, £ 60.95
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Abstract
This paper is about Sigmund Freud's concept of 'unconscious' and its relevance in the arts. The author discusses how Freud is commonly recognized as having invented the concept of the ?unconscious?. The author explaines that the subordination of the ?pleasure principle? by the ?reality principle? is done through a mental process that Freud refers to as sublimation. According to Sigmund Freud, dreams and fantasies (or phantasies) are the symbolic expression and fulfillment of wishes and desires that as a result of sublimation by the ?reality principle? cannot be fulfilled through daily life and are consequently repressed into the ?unconscious.? To Freud, ?the motive forces of fantasies are unsatisfied wishes, and every single fantasy is the fulfillment of a wish, a correction of unsatisfying reality? (Freud 485). Freud affirms that dreams are disguised, hallucinatory fulfillment?s of repressed wishes. He concludes that if expressed in undisguised form, they would be so disturbing that it would wake the dreamer from sleep. Freud?s fundamental assumption is that the sublimation of the artist?s unsatisfied libido is responsible for producing all forms of art and literature whether it be painting, sculpting, or writing. David H. Richter notes in his introduction to ?Sigmund Freud? that Freud was once criticized by Carl Gustav Jung, a fellow psychoanalytic theorist, for insinuating that artists were diseased individuals creating art out of their own personal neurotic needs. The writer feels that Freud insinuates that art is primarily an escapist method, that ?in an ideal world in which everyone had matured sufficiently to replace the pleasure principle by the reality principle, there would be no need for art? (Storr 103).
From the Paper
"The historical tradition of scholarly theory has been one in which literary texts are subjected to scrutiny regarding whether they are either implicitly or explicitly ideological in nature. Arguably so, nothing reflects a society?s fears, hopes, and desires about gender, class, and power more than what the society maintains about art and artists. A literary text is credible of fully reflecting the culture in which it was written, that is to say, it has the potential to embody certain sociological assumptions presented in the dichotomy between ?normal? and ?abnormal.? Sigmund Freud, the patriarch of psychoanalysis, is associated with Charles Darwin and Karl Marx as being ?one of the three original thinkers who have most altered man?s view of himself in the twentieth century? (Storr 145). Yet, even literary theorists, including Freud, realized that ?any comprehensive vision of human nature such as he provides must have implications for the nature of happiness, and for the relation of man?s natural capacities to his normal or ideal state? (Sousa 196). That is, numerous later theorists and critics believe that Freud?s own theories about the function and nature of the mind uncovered some fundamental truths about how an individual?s notions of ?self? are formed and how culture and civilization operate and are affected by these notions. Coinciding with Freud?s own account, the significance of everyday action is determined by motives that are far more numerous and complex than people are aware of or commonsense understanding takes into account. The most basic and constant of motives that influence our actions are those of the unconscious, moreover, those that are difficult to acknowledge or avow. Freud?s conception of the unconscious and his rediscovery of the importance of dreams encouraged painters, sculptors and writers to pay serious attention to their inner world of dreams; to find significance in thoughts and images they previously would have dismissed as absurd or illogical. Therefore it is plausible that notions of art and literature as described by Sigmund Freud, are created through the ramifications of the unconscious or the sublimation of an unsatisfied carnal appetite."
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Gender and Foucault, 2008.
This paper discusses textual construction of gender differentiation in texts of Sigmund Freud, Nancy Chodorow and Michel Foucault.
1,000 words (approx. 4.0 pages), 4 sources, MLA, £ 24.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer notes that the issue of gender differentiation is a highly contentious one. The writer points out that this involves not only questions of how the process occurs in humans, but also its political associations in terms of power relations between the sexes, and institutional power in western societies in general. In order to understand the significance of the textual construction of gender differentiation the writer maintains that it would be useful to consider Foucault's analysis of how the medical community has played a major role in exploring this issue. Foucault's analysis is important for he does not simply consider the debates over gender differentiation to involve simply questions of biology and psychology, or even gender relations between the sexes. Instead, the writer notes that Foucault asks that we consider the textual explorations themselves as instruments of power by which medical institutions and society define and control sexuality.
From the Paper
"This "debate" between Chodorow and Freud with regard to the differentiation of gender can thus be seen as a struggle for gender power in society as a whole. The capacity to define one or the other gender as a normative state of humanity is clearly an assertion of power. However, in a larger analysis, Foucault would suggest that we see both researchers as been fundamentally similar in that they both partake of an institutional approach to infantile sexuality in the medical and scientific community which has, as its ultimate purpose, the assertion of control and domination over children's sexuality through processes of surveillance and behaviour modification. These processes with regard to the development of gender differentiation, Foucault argues, can be seen in the rendering as "perverse" such gendered states as "homosexuality" in children. This is revealing of the instrumentality through which western societies have, for at least the past few centuries, applied significant efforts to the control of individuals through the control of sexuality and - in particular - the power to define sexuality according to the interests of institutional powers."
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Freud's "Dora", 2003.
A feminist critique of Freud's famous patient, "Dora". "Dora" was Freud's initial attempt to marry dream therapy with psychoanalysis.
2,532 words (approx. 10.1 pages), 16 sources, APA, £ 52.95
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Abstract
This paper attempts to deconstruct and expose the inherent patriarchal ideologies in Freud's psychoanalysis of his famous patient, "Dora". The basis of Freud's psychoanalytic theories revolved around sexuality, and his account of her "madness" condemns her sexuality and dismisses all feminine sexuality. This is a feminist critique of Freud's theories, in general, and specifically, in regards to his comments on the case of "Dora", which attempt to expose the unconscious assumptions that Freud saw in everyone else but himself. The contention of this paper is thus that the society and culture and gender of an individual directly influences his or her perception and interpretation of another individual, and thus Freud, as a privileged, white man in a patriarchal society, could never hope to help or analyse "Dora" accurately.
From the Paper
"For Dr Sigmund Freud the case analysis of ?Dora? signified the possibility of proclaiming a marriage between dream analysis and psychoanalysis to the psychoanalytic community (Freud, 1901/1905: 44ff.). Yet it was never the woman in analysis who was of importance for either Freud or the psychoanalytic community. Ida Bauer was never important and nor was her Symbolic representation, Dora. Indeed all the women within Dora?s case are characterised as ?nothing,? no woman is important (Gallop, 1985: 216). It might be argued that we can never truly know the content of Ida?s ?nothingness? because Dora was Freud?s invention, his interpretation, biases and desires postured onto her feminine form (Geargear, 1985: 177). However we need not know Ida?s real life story as Freud?s narration of her is more indicative of Ida?s status as a woman within a patriarchal society than any autobiographical account could ever have been. Thus Dora becomes a fluid character who need not claim a ?real? identity or to be set in an historical moment for she exceeds Ida and is instead the transcendent woman; her hysteria is every woman?s hysteria."
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Exploring Freud: Controversy and Influence, 2002.
Provides an explanation of some of Freud?s controversial issues, critiques of him by colleagues, ?neo-Freudians? and anti-Freudians and an assessment of Freud?s overall influence in the field of modern psychology.
2,550 words (approx. 10.2 pages), 20 sources, MLA, £ 53.95
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Abstract
The essay discusses three of Freud's most radical and debated sex-based discoveries: The "psychosexual stages" and the Oedipus and Electra (penis envy) complexes. It goes on to discuss the opinions of contemporaries Carl Jung and Alfred Adler, adaptations on Freudian theories by Erik Erikson and Karen Horney and the opinion of Freud's feminist critics. It also explores why the religious world rejects much of Freud's work. The essay concludes with an assessment of Freud's influence based on modern tenets of psychology and the use of Freudian diagnostic and treatment methods today.
From the Paper
"At one time or another, everyone needs to express his or her feelings in an unending flow of speech. Known as venting, this type of self-expression sits at the center of debate surrounding a very curious man, Sigismund Schlomo Freud. Psychoanalysis is based on the relief experienced when thoughts are expressed, and psychoanalysis was created by Freud as a method of treating mental illness. Freud created theories of love, power, language, development, death, and sex, applying them ?to disciplines ranging from psychology to anthropology to literary theory? (Muckenhoupt 10). He has been called the ?best known and most influential personality theorist? (Morris 3). At the same time, his treatment has been deemed ?ineffective and dangerous? and his ideas about child sexuality have ?horrified many critics? (Muckenhoupt 10). His modern relevance is still the topic of much debate, with extreme claims made by both sides of the argument, but ultimately, it can be acknowledged, that if nothing else, Freud ?opened the door? to a whole new world of the unconscious (Downs 183- 185)."
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Anna Freud.
This paper discusses the life and work of Anna Freud, the originator of child psychoanalysis and daughter of Sigmund Freud, the originator of psychology.
2,920 words (approx. 11.7 pages), 6 sources, APA, £ 59.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that Anna Freud was dedicated to her father all through her lifetime and had a close relationship with him rather than with her mother and siblings. The author points out that Anna Freud extended the principle of psychoanalysis to children, but found that her father's 'Little Hans' analysis did not apply to children. The paper relates that Anna Freud thought, when one feature or another of a child's development critically lags behind the rest, the clinician should cite this difficult stage and focus the child's analysis on this specific lag.
From the Paper
"Additionally, her role as a teacher in a school helped her to acquire the insight into ego psychology. She established the Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic in London in 1947 and worked as its director after 1952. She was the author of numerous scientific books and papers and she assisted in setting up the yearly periodical Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, in 1945. She was full of activity on almost all days working on something original or improving something that was old. The succession of projects she handled came so frequently that she did not have any break between projects."
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Resisting Truth: Foucault and Power, 2005.
An analysis of how philosopher Michael Foucault characterizes power, resistance, freedom and sexuality.
881 words (approx. 3.5 pages), 5 sources, APA, £ 21.95
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Abstract
Philosopher Michael Foucault has had an extraordinary impact on the way in which power and sexuality are understood in modern society. This paper aims to enlighten the reader towards a broader understanding of sexuality and power according to Foucault. It also tests and questions Foucault's theories as they exist when practically applied.
Outline
Introduction
Foucault on Power
Foucault on Resistance and Freedom
Foucault and Sexuality
Conclusion
From the Paper
"Foucault has gone on in his later work to clarify the practice of freedom. Foucault talks of a subject as a work of art and as being ruled by the self upon the self, with intentional and voluntary acts . It is within this later work that Foucault appears to contradict himself. He requires that this rule not be prescriptive from an outside source and yet in his earlier work he made it clear that self-regulation with regards to an external, prevailing discourse is so prevalent in modern society as to be barely discernible. Whilst it may not be a true contradiction, it is hard to marry the two theories and to distinguish between the negative self-regulation and the positive rule applied by self upon self. "
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Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents", 2008.
Analyzes Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents" from the standpoint of Socrates and Jesus Christ.
2,155 words (approx. 8.6 pages), 3 sources, APA, £ 46.95
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Abstract
This paper states that, in Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents", Freud contends that the feeling of spirituality or religion is the result of one's ego. The author, who plays the role of Socrates, uses the Socratic method to question Freud's arguments. The paper concludes by questioning how there could be sinfulness if Freud believes that religion is an illusion. The author, in the role of Socrates, relates that "sins" are concepts that religions have invented to make people feel guilty and go to church. The author concludes by analyzing each of the beatitudes of the "Sermon on the Mount" from this psychological position.
Table of Contents:
Socrates Responds to Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents"
Sigmund Freud on the Sermon on the Mount
From the Paper
"But let's move on to Beatitude number four: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." In my own research I have discovered that a desire for happiness in many hearts and minds is matched by a willingness to do good, to try to accomplish positive things for others. This satisfies the ego, and when the parents of a child instill in that child the values that are unselfish, that person while growing up will have a strong desire to be righteous."
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Comparing Michel Foucault and Jean-Francois Lyotard, 2007.
This paper compares the philosophies of Michel Foucault and Jean-Francois Lyotard through two of their works.
2,832 words (approx. 11.3 pages), 4 sources, APA, £ 58.95
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Abstract
This paper compares Michel Foucault and Jean-Francois Lyotard, both early postmodern philosophers, through the use of two of their works, as well as other sources. These works are Foucault's "The Body of the Condemned" and Lyotard's "The Postmodern Condition". In addition to these works, other information about Foucault and Lyotard is used to indicate the similarities and differences between these two works, their philosophies and their beliefs. While the two works are analyzed, the overall philosophies of Foucault and Lyotard are also addressed.
Outline:
Michel Foucault
Jean-Francois Lyotard
Conclusion
From the Paper
"Foucault fits into the general philosophical tradition, but it is the critical tradition, similar to Kant, and most of what Foucault writes about and proclaims is a very critical history where human nature and thought is concerned (Foucault, n.d.). This does not mean that the history of ideas that he discusses is also an analysis of the errors that might be seen when issues are examined after the fact. Instead, it should be taken to mean that Foucault's work is an analysis based on the relationship between object and subject, and what conditions are seen to either form or modify those relationships (Foucault, n.d.)."
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Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents", 1980.
This paper studies the sections in Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents" dealing with suffering, love, happiness and pleasure principle, aggression and guilt, which are all related to Freud's theories of man & culture.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 2 sources, £ 38.95
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From the Paper
In his book "Civilization and its Discontents", Sigmund Freud examines the cultural frustrations which are brought about by the conflicts between the demands of the instincts of man and the prohibitions of civilization. The structure of culture, Freud finds, is designed to restrict the instinctive life of man, the instinctive life being one of egoistic self-satisfaction and aggression or destruction. To delve into every aspect of this antagonism that Freud studies would be too great a task for a paper of this length, therefore, I would like to focus my attention on the sections of Civilization and its Discontents dealing with suffering, love, happiness and the pleasure principle, and aggression and guilt, since these were the most valuable to me in understanding Freud's theory. In dealing with any of these, one undoubtedly overlaps principles which deal with ... "
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"The Pure and the Impure" by Colette, 2000.
A psychoanalytic critique of the characters' narcissistic pursuit of sexual pleasure, using ideas of Freud, Foucault, Luce Irigaray and Jacques Lacan.
1,800 words (approx. 7.2 pages), 6 sources, £ 43.95
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From the Paper
"This study will provide a critical psychoanalysis of Colette's novel The Pure and the Impure, focusing on the characters' pursuit of jouissance, or pleasure, specifically sexual pleasure as essential element of love. However, if love is viewed as one's profound emotional connection to the beloved in at least a partial forsaking of one's egocentricity, then this pursuit of jouissance is more an expression of narcissism, or obsessive self-love, than of true love of another. In any case, none of the characters in the novel can be said to be happy because of their pursuit of pleasure or even because of their achieving it. Colette is a liberated woman, but she also a keen observer of the passing scene, not a naive idealist, and she hardly believes that the pursuit or achievement of jouissance will bring happiness. In fact, the more a character is obsessed..."
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Differing Views Of Human Nature according to Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, 1990.
Compares conceptions of human nature as proposed by Marx and Freud. Marx's conception is based on economic interactions and the relationship of humans to labor, Freud's conception is rooted in theoretical constructs of the mind producing observable beh
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 3 sources, £ 21.95
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From the Paper
" Differing views of human nature are found in the theories of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. The two writers address diverse aspects of human life, with Marx centering on the economic and political and Freud on the inner life of the mind and the ways in which that manifests itself in human behavior. The two men have as their starting point a conception of human nature which shows why human beings behave as they do, and for both men the reasons for human behavior are hidden from view, hidden from the understanding of the majority of people responding to them. For Marx, the hidden force is economic and involves the relationship of the human being to labor, while for Freud the hidden force is found in theoretical constructs of the mind which govern different aspects of thought and behavior and whose interaction produces the behavior we can see..."
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