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Understand the self
This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities.In 1923, Freud introduced new terms in his book "The Ego and the Id," to describe the division between the conscious and unconscious: 'id,' 'ego,' and 'super-ego.'He thought these terms offered a more compelling description of the dynamic relations between the conscious and the unconscious.The "id" (fully unconscious) contains the drives and those things repressed by consciousness; the "ego" (mostly conscious) deals with external reality; and the "super ego" (partly conscious) is the conscience or the internal moral judge.

The id is the source of our drives and Freud considered it to be the reservoir of libido.'The libido' or simply 'libido', is the form of energy cathected upon objects or an effect received from objects, predominantly sexual, which underlies all mental processes.Our drives (Freud had very theoretically specific "-drives" such as the death-drive, but drives can often be equated to 'instincts') surge forth from the id and apply libidinal energy to objects, which may result in aggressive or erotic attachments/actions upon chosen objects.The drives of the id are considered to be inborn, operating within the primary psychical processes (those of the unconscious) and are absolutely determined according to the pleasure principle.It is said that the id behaves as though it were unconscious, the reason thought to be is that our ego and our super-ego's ideals and pressures are often in conflict with the id's, causing repression, as the gratification of the id's drives would often be devastating in terms of social- and self-image.The word "id" is taken from the nominative single neuter Latin demonstrative pronoun (is, ea, id) meaning "it" or "that thing."

In Freud's theory, the ego mediates among the id, the super-ego and the external world. Its task is to find a balance between primitive drives, morals, and reality while satisfying the id and superego.Its main concern is with the individual's safety and allows some of the id's desires to be expressed, but only when consequences of these actions are marginal.Ego defense mechanisms are often used by the ego when id behavior conflicts with reality and either society's morals, norms, and taboos or the individual's expectations as a result of the internalization of these morals, norms, and taboos.Although in his early writings Freud equated the ego with the sense of self, he later began to portray it more as a set of psychic functions such as reality-testing, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.The word ego is taken directly from Latin where it is the nominative of the first person singular personal pronoun and is translated as "I myself" to express emphasis.Ego is the English translation for Freud's German term "Das Ich."

Freud's theory says that the super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and cultural regulations.The super-ego tends to stand in opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and is aggressive towards the ego.The super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and the prohibition of taboos.Its formation takes place during the dissolution of the Oedipus complex and is formed by an identification with and internalization of the father figure after the little boy cannot successfully hold the mother as a love-object out of fear of castration."The super-ego retains the character of the father, while the more powerful the Oedipus complex was and the more rapidly it succumbed to repression (under the influence of authority, religious teaching, schooling and reading), the stricter will be the domination of the super-ego over the ego later on -- in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt" (The Ego and the Id, 1923).In Sigmund Freud's work Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) he also discusses the concept of a "cultural super-ego".The concept of super-ego and the Oedipus complex is subject to criticism for its sexism.Women, who are considered to be already castrated, do not identify with the father, and therefore form a weak super-ego, apparently leaving them susceptible to immorality and sexual identity complications.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy.
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