Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud ( 1856-1939)
Freud was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist. Freud is also the father of psychoanalysis. Freud was an atheist and fought against religion which he thought was an obstacle in human intelligence. Freud was born into a Jewish family and was reading shakespeare at eight years old. At seventeen he had completed high school and decided he would study medicine, but he was also interested in law and philosophy. Freud got his medical degree in 1881. He also opened up a medical practice and became more interested in psychological disorders. In 1885 Freud joined the French neurologist professor Jean-Martin Charcot and gained from his work on hysteria. Freud developed a new approach to the human mind by "providing a fundamental role to the unconscious." Freud's dad died in 1896 which also was the birth of psychoanalysis. Freud began researching dreams deeply and discovered the existence of fantasy and the Oedipus complex ( the complex of emotions aroused in a young child). Since 1923 he was a victim of jaw cancer. The Nazis did not appreciate a new vision of man presented by a Jew. Sick with cancer and wanting to get away from antisemitism, Freud went to London in 1938 before World War 2 and died in 1939 by committing suicide.

Philosophy
Freud's philosophy theory was the theory of the unconscious. This said that there is a constant tension between man and his surroundings. Freud describes the conscious mind in which consists of all the mental processes we are aware of. So what Freud is saying is when we are fully aware of what is going on we are conscious. While we are aware of the conscious mind we don't know what information is in the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind has information that we need to keep out of awareness because they are too harmful to accept fully. The unconscious does not contain unimportant or irrelevant thoughts, rather but because the thoughts are powerful they must be buried. Freud's philosophy is stated in Packet 6 pg 251.

5 Quotes
"Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways."

"the interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind."

"The ego is not master in its own house."

"Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength."

"The mind is like an iceberg it floats with one-seventh of it's bulk above water."

3 Works
Studies on Hysteria-The book described their study/work of a number of individuals suffering from hysteria.

The interpretation of Dreams-The book is about Freud's theory that dreams are unconscious wishes disgusted symbolism.

The Psychopathology of Everyday life-The book takes a close look at deviations that happen in everyday life.