Sigmund Freud, Determinism and Free Will Essay Example

Sigmund Freud, Determinism and Free Will Essay Sigmund Freud is considered as the founder of the psychoanalytic tradition in the field of psychology. As an emerging science during his time, psychological theories had been developed from various philosophical schools of thought. Psychology thus, may appropriately be considered as a brainchild of philosophy. Due to the aforementioned reasons, psychology inherited characteristics that are constitutive of what philosophy and the philosophical enterprise are. Psychology inherited among many other things, the characteristic of being both metaphysical and speculative; approaches that are distinctly attributed to the method of doing philosophy. The status of the Nineteenth Century science however, proved to be crucial in the development of Freud’s own thought. As a thinker, Freud’s contributions focused on the core notions of the â€Å"mind, its tripartite structure† and the theory of the â€Å"unconscious†. Influenced by Helmholtz’s discovery of the â€Å"principle of conservation of energy†, the formulation of which is that in any given physical system, the total amount of energy is always constant, and Ernst Brucke’s idea that living organisms such as human beings, by virtue of being energy-systems are not excluded from the application of the aforementioned principle, Freud was able to develop his theories of the mind and the unconscious with the contention that he has found a way of going about psychology â€Å"scientifically†. We will write a custom essay sample on Sigmund Freud, Determinism and Free Will specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Sigmund Freud, Determinism and Free Will specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Sigmund Freud, Determinism and Free Will specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer What is Freud’s theory of the mind and its tripartite structure? It is interesting to take note of the fact that the tripartite view with regards to the soul is a view held by people even in the ancient times. As a matter of fact, the Greek philosopher Plato had the same view albeit, there are nuances that must be considered in this interpretation. In his book Ten Theories of Human Nature, Stevenson claims that there are certain â€Å"parallelisms† with regards to Plato’s account of the soul to Freud’s theory of the human psyche. Stevenson writes: â€Å"The Id, like Plato’s Appetite, is made up of the instinctual drives that seek immediate satisfaction; the Ego is not exactly parallel to Plato’s Reason, but it does have the function of dealing with the real world and mediating in the relationship of the world and the Id; the Superego contains the conscience and the social models absorbed as a child† (Stevenson 74). On a deeper analysis, we can plausibly contend that Freud’s division of the human psyche into the Id, Ego and the Superego is in itself a division that is highly â€Å"metaphysical† which stands in direct opposition to one that is â€Å"empirical†. However, what is exceptionally brilliant in Freud is the fact that he was able to make his metaphysical assumptions to have a strong hold and to bear an imprint in the minds of the scientists thereby, consequently leading to the idea that his theory of the mind can be understood within the schema of scientific inquiry. The universe is a machine. This metaphor is actually an attempt to explain phenomena by positing different kinds of laws that govern the universe. The universe and the bodies within it are governed by physical and mechanical laws, for instance. A more thought-provoking aspect of this metaphor however, has something to do with the fundamental questions regarding the issues regarding â€Å"determinism† and the concept of â€Å"free will†. The mechanistic model of the universe and the formulations in and through which we appropriate and understand phenomena for ourselves depicts a scenario that everything in the universe is determined including thinking and behavior of human beings. Thinking is in itself a mechanistic procedure which can be explained by the firing of neurons in the brain and by taking into consideration the psychological or mental states that a person has. As Freud sees it, it makes sense to say that a person’s action is for instance, determined and is caused by pre-existing psychological or mental states. The valuable contribution then of Freud is the fact that he was able to integrate his theory of the mind into the schema of science. He also made extensive use of the concept of â€Å"causality†. Causality, as a scientific principle may be defined as â€Å"the operation of cause and effect†. Causes and effects are important categories or markers in scientific inquiry. In psychoanalysis for instance, the primordial assumption is that certain neuroses or abnormal behaviors are caused by â€Å"repressed† psychological or mental states. Freud, to be more particular, traces the causes of these neuroses or abnormal behaviors to â€Å"traumatic experiences† that a particular person has experienced in his or her past life. These things might be concealed from the individual, meaning, the individual does not have the knowledge that he or she has had such traumatic experiences or that he or she has had repressed emotions. The person may also not be aware that of a à ¢â‚¬Å"thought† or a â€Å"desire† that has long been there, that has long been present in his or her psyche. This brings us to Freud’s theory of the â€Å"unconscious†. What is the unconscious? The theory of the unconscious is also a theory patterned from the schema of science and hence, is also characterized as strictly deterministic. When we speak of the mind, we have the tendency to assume that what we are talking about is that which we use when we think of our thoughts. We assume that there are only â€Å"conscious mental states† and â€Å"conscious mental processes† and we identify them with the â€Å"mind†. Freud sees it in a different way. The usual analogy used to explain this is the analogy between the mind and an iceberg. The mind is like an iceberg; it has parts that can be seen and parts that cannot be seen. The mind or the human psyche, for Freud has two parts; the conscious and the unconscious. On a personal note, the strength of Freud’s theory of the mind and the unconscious is the fact that they are deterministic. This puts them at par with the other sciences albeit we must take into consideration that the object of study of the empirical sciences is different from the object of study of the social sciences such as psychology. Freud’s groundwork on psychology and his attempt to integrate it with the methodology of science paved the way for doing psychology scientifically. Succeeding psychologists have benefited enormously from the scientific way of doing psychology nowadays. Persons afflicted with psychological disorders are now assured of a better and more humane treatment. Aside from these, Freud’s theory illuminates some of the dark areas of our being human. One such example is our tendency to bury deep in our minds certain desires, things or dreams that we want to pursue because most of us are afraid to take risks. Freud makes us see that no matte r how much we try to bury these things deep in our minds, they will creep out eventually and will make manifest on us in different ways. There is no escape from these desires. However, the implications of the theory are disturbing. As stated on the earlier part of this essay, the theory, being based on the scientific model, leads to the idea that everything is determined, that everything is governed by the same scientific and mechanistic laws. This idea also breeds another idea; that human actions, the basis of which is capacity for thought, is determined. Human beings are not free as most of us would like to believe. What we call freedom is merely illusory. In the same vein, what we call free will is also an illusion; a figment of the imagination, a mere hope that is divorced from reality. Philosophy, as I see it, is all about setting the limits. It is about â€Å"being in control†. This may be observed even in the ancient Greeks’ treatment of philosophy and rationality. The entity that sets the limits, that which is in control is none other than the faculty of reason. Due to this, it is indeed difficult to accept that what Freud says is true. The mere presence of unconscious mental states and mental processes suggest that there are considerably significant aspects of our lives, behaviors and thoughts that are unknown and hidden to us. The source of the â€Å"uneasiness† as I reckon it is the fact that if the theory is true, then there are things about ourselves and about our actions that are beyond our control.

Advanced English Tense Review (ESL, EFL, TESL, TOEFL)

Advanced English Tense Review (ESL, EFL, TESL, TOEFL) Its back-to-school time. Before you or your students get down to studying the specifics of various grammar structures, it is a good idea to review the basic English tenses. If you are an advanced student, a review will help remind you of the tenses and also point out any weaknesses or insecurity that you may have. If you are an upper-level student but not yet aware of all the tenses, these exercises will make a good introduction to some of the important structures ahead. For an overview of conjugation in detail of all 12 tenses in English, use the tense tables for reference. Teachers can use theses guides on how to teach tenses for further activities and lesson plans in class The following exercises serve two purposes: Re-familiarization of standard tense names Tense conjugation practice The first exercise is very important as you may not remember exactly the names of the various tenses. This exercise will help you remember the names of the tenses. Once you have finished the first exercise, read the text through one more time to familiarize yourself with it completely. Go on to the next exercise that asks you to conjugate the verbs in the extract. You should be very familiar with the extract so you can concentrate on the correct conjugation. Notice how the tenses relate to each other in time. Remember that many verbs are conjugated based on how they relate to one another. Teachers can use these exercises in class by using the following lesson plan which includes the exercises in a format useful for the classroom. Tense Review Lesson Plan and Materials Here is the original text. Once you have finished, click on the exercise link to begin exercise one. John has always traveled a lot. In fact, he was only two years old when he first flew to the US. His mother is Italian and his father is American. John was born in France, but his parents had met in Cologne, Germany after they had been living there for five years. They met one day while Johns father was reading a book in the library and his mother sat down beside him. Anyway, John travels a lot because his parents also travel a lot. As a matter of fact, John is visiting his parents in France at the moment. He lives in New York now, but has been visiting his parents for the past few weeks. He really enjoys living in New York, but he also loves coming to visit his parents at least once a year. This year he has flown over 50,000 miles for his job. He has been working for Jackson Co. for almost two years now. Hes pretty sure that hell be working for them next year as well. His job requires a lot of travel. In fact, by the end of this year, hell have traveled over 120,000 miles! His next journey will be to Australia. He really doesnt like going to Australia because it is so far. This time he is going to fly from Paris after a meeting with the companys French partner. Hell have been sitting for over 18 hours by the time he arrives! John was talking with his parents earlier this evening when his girlfriend from New York telephoned to let him know that Jackson Co. had decided to merge with a company in Australia. The two companies had been negotiating for the past month, so it really wasnt much of a surprise. Of course, this means that John will have to catch the next plane back to New York. Hell be meeting with his boss at this time tomorrow. Follow the links to begin the exercise: Exercise One: Tense Identification Exercise Two: Tense Conjugation