A review by dukegregory
Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud

4.0

I feel like this book finds realism out of Freud's fantasy, his fantasy being his usual focus on genuinely producing a hermeneutic to understand the mind in a way that is simply illogical, or rather logical within his framework, but that framework is entirely unempirical. His discussion at the end about the reality of a possible superego of an entire culture or civilization reminded me of Marx's superstructure. These social forces that slither their way into the mind and revoke any possibility of true expression and/or freedom in a manner that would allow for true happiness, whether that comes from Marx's materialist understanding of culture or Freuds's focus on the inhibited being within our being.