Cassirer, E. The Philosophy of the Enlightenment.Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1951.
Cranston, M. Philosophers and Pamphleteers. Oxford, Eng.:
Oxford University Press, 1986.
Hampson, N. The Enlightenment.New York: Pelican, 1968.
Hazard, P. European Thought in the Eighteenth Century.Cleve-
land: World Publishing Co., 1954.
Wade, I. O. The Intellectual Origins of the French Enlightenment.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971
Freud, Sigmund (1856–1939) Austrian psychi-
atrist, founder of psychoanalysis, and social philoso-
pher
Freud is best known for developing the psychoanalytic
method of psychological therapy, including examina-
tion of the subconscious mind, dream interpretation,
and hypnosis. He divided the human psyche (or
nature) into three parts: (1) the id, or the primitive
animal impulses toward survival, sexual satisfaction,
consumption, and violence; (2) the ego, or human rea-
son and intelligence that orders and restrains the id to
allow a person to function normally; and (3) the
superego, or internalized authority from social morals
(in family—especially father—government, church,
and God). For Freudian psychoanalysis, an emotion-
ally “healthy” person has a balanced psyche: The
rational ego controls the worst animal instincts of the
id but is not overly repressed by the superego. If the id
is excessively active, an individual acts like a criminal,
following animal passions to kill, steal, and rape. If the
superego is overbearing, the individual is obsessed
with order, rules, and guilt. Freud’s theory that
humans are driven primarily by libidinal (sexual)
drives (egos) that lead to EXPLOITATIONand destruction
of others and that require social restraint leads to his
social philosophy.
Sexual drives, or the “life impulse,” can be chan-
neled constructively into work and artistic creativity,
but these are usually a competitive, destructive force.
In Civilization and Its Discontents(1930), Freud por-
trays human history and society as violent, cruel,
oppressive, and vicious because of humanity’s evil
nature. This pessimistic view of human nature caused
him to ridicule political systems (like COMMUNISM) that
presumed that people are naturally good and capable
of creating a just, peaceful society. Freud rejected that
ENLIGHTENMENT optimism (as in ROUSSEAU) that
assumed that changing a human’s social environment
would improve one’s character. Although raised Jew-
ish, Freud was a scientific atheist, calling religion an
“illusion” used to dupe and control the masses (see
The Future of an Illusion). His emphasis on human evil
and sin compared with that of St. AUGUSTINE, but
Freud’s atheism offered no hope of redemption
through Christ or a future heaven. Human life and
society, for Freud, is a kind of hell, the individual torn
between conflicting impulses; “... the bearer and...
the victim of civilization;” loaded down with unsatis-
fied desires, frustrated impulses, and guilt feelings,
unameliorated even by worldly accomplishments or
getting drunk. When Freud was dying with mouth
cancer, he willingly submitted to being killed by a
drug overdose.
The modern world was for him a mixture of lazy,
stupid masses and ruthless dictators. Only low expec-
tations, the rule of rational men, and realistic econom-
ics (market CAPITALISM) could lead to a moderately
healthy state. A “good” society, for Freud, would be
one with sufficient order and authority to prevent the
mass crime and ANARCHY of the unrestrained id, but
not so controlling that it produced massive guilt and
psychological neuroses.
Although not strictly a political thinker, Freud’s
psychological therapy methods (widely adopted in the
West) and the sociological assumptions underlying
them greatly affected 20th-century political culture in
Europe and America.Further Readings
Freud, S. Civilization and Its Discontents,J. Rivière, transl. Lon-
don: Hogarth Press, 1930.
———. The Future of an Illusion,W. D. Robson-Scott, transl.
London: Hogarth Press, 1962.
———. Two Short Accounts of Psychoanalysis.Harmondsworth,
Eng.: Penguin, 1957.
Fromm, E. The Crisis of Psychoanalysis.London: Cape, New
York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1970, 1978.
Marcuse, H. Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into
Freud.Boston: Beacon Press, 1955, 1966.
Roazen, P. Freud: Political and Social Thought.New York: Knopf,
1968.fundamentalism/fundamentalist
A movement in the protestant CHRISTIANchurch begin-
ning early in the 20th century that sought to defend
orthodox religious faith from theological LIBERALISM,
theories of evolution, SOCIALISM, FEMINISM, and secular
HUMANISM; one who believes in this movement. By
adhering to certain “fundamentals” of the Christian
religion (the virgin birth of Christ; the Atonement; the116 Freud, Sigmund