Locke And Freud Essay, Research Paper
Many different people have their own beliefs of the understanding of human
nature. After reading Dr. Sigmund Freud’s letter to Professor Einstein, Why War?, the
interpretation of the aspects that make us human become relevant.
Freud distinguishes the relation between Right and Might, and he uses the word
“violence” instead of might. Right and violence have developed out of one another.
Conflicts beaten man are usually solved with violence, and it was the more dominant or
superior man which always came out on top of the existing conflict. This is true for a
matter of fact. For example, in a sword fight, the man with the bigger weapon and the
better skill to use it would obviously win the fight. The man who won the fight was
superior. Not only weapons, but intellect became a equivalent as well. The better mind
won the war. The absolute feeling of this domination was complete when the victor used
his strength to terminate his opponent, in other words, kill them. So then it was that
domination by whoever had the greater brute or violence, might, was supported by
intellect.
The way to end this war caused by violence would be by union. Superior strength
of an individual could be overruled by several individuals. Freud then said that “Thus we
see that right is the might of a community.” That is true, but now the violence no longer
rests in the hands of the individual, but in the hands of the entire community. This
community or union, must be stable and sure about pacifying the might of the nation. If
one individual tried to defeat another to create this unity to dissolve the might, and after
his defeat, then another would come along to prove his strength and superiority, and then
again nothing would be accomplished. Freud says that the community must be
permanently maintained and organized and everyone must be involved so noone would
become dominant. All members of this community must be equally strong. Freud also
notes that love and hate are both needed for survival, and as we all know, hate is directly
involved with violence.
John Locke, along with Freud is a pacifist. They both believe in perfect freedom,
equality and liberty to all of the people of the nation. Locke believes in reason as a way to
end war. Freud’s theory about creating a nonviolent, equal community has everything to
do with reason. Coming to a compromise saying that everyone is equal and that our
nation will get nowhere with war and hatred. But history does equal violence and
actually, as history progresses, we do in fact become more civilized. Locke’s belief of rule
of the majority would work significantly with Freud’s theory of uniting as a community.
But the individuals themselves must stop being so self centered.
The concept of human nature is learning to control the bad and work together to
make the perfect world. That will never happen. Without bad, you would have nothing to
compare the good to. There would be no such thing as emotions because everything
would be the same and we wouldn’t know any different. You wouldn’t laugh, you
wouldn’t cry, and we would just live in a monotone world without any feelings what so
ever. In my opinion there is no such thing as a perfect world and actually, would the
world really be perfect?