Civilized Pleasure

By: Chris Valletta

In Freud's work Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud delves into the pleasure principle and civilizations influence on the repression of our innate desire for pleasure. According to Freud, satisfaction is obtained through illusions, upon which reality does not interfere with our happiness at the time. Art is at the top of the list of these illusions which provide us with satisfaction as Freud states, however there are many forms where these illusions are noticeable. For example, in my own life watching sporting events is certainly an illusion in which I can obtain satisfaction because it helps me to escape from the realities of the day and to live in the thrill of the game. In the world of sports, nothing else matters except for winning that game. When the game is over, I immediately snap back into reality.

Freud describes the word civilization as having two purposes: "to protect men against nature, and to adjust men's mutual relations with one another." What occurs in a civilization is the replacement of power of the individual with power of the community. Thus, restrictions have formed as a result of the civilization because now there is more of an equal spread of power, whereas the individual had no restrictions. If pleasure is placed into these restrictions, one can see how the civilization placed restrictions of pleasure on humans right from the start. Our innate human desires became repressed and curbed. This comes as no wonder to Freud then why humans are generally unhappy; they cannot fully behave and function the they want to.

In addition to analyzing civilization and our desire for pleasure, Freud also says that we must have a instinctual desire for death as well, to bring us back to our original form. Freud contends that necessity alone will not hold a civilization together, but the aggressiveness and hostility of each person against another. If you think about this comment, it indeed does make sense. For example, look at the hostility and competition we see in today's colleges and universities. Everything is constantly about getting an advantage to make you look better than another student so you will be picked for a certain school or a certain job. If things were not so competitive, maybe students would simply do the bear minimum needed to get by. This fueling of competition for schools and grades is something that we as college students all go through and in essence gives us a common bond to share.

When discussing this topic, Freud puts it best: "It is not easy to deal scientifically with feelings (p.8)."