Sigmund Freud was born in Moravia (which was part of the Austrian empire) in 1856 to an Austrian family of non-observant Jews. He and his family then moved to Vienna where Freud trained as a doctor in the University of Vienna some years later, he then developed his specialism into brain anatomy at a general hospital (1882) and collaborated with neurologist Joseph Breuer where he treated hysterical patients with hypnosis. Three years later he moved to Paris and studied under neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot until 1886 where he progressed into his own private medical practice.
Freud actually began with the same starting point as Karl Marx; humans are unhappy because they are divided and are alienated from themselves however, goes on to attack Marx. Marx believes that in a communist society the needs of the species self would become dominate, he believes that human nature is able to develop and evolve. Freud rejects this because it is too idealistic and our basic needs are not of kind quality, he believes that humans deepest needs is in fact aggression - we all think in order to cause destruction but we learn to suppress it. Freud believed that society is full of suffering because humans are slowly deteriorating (through age), because of nature but mainly because of interaction with other people. He believes the answer is psychoanalysis however, this will not work for everyone and has outlined some coping mechanisms - for example - chemical solutions - isolation - religion - finding a socially acceptable way to channel aggression (sport/work).
He also shows similarities to Plato in the way he looks in to human behaviour and follows his idea of the tripartite self, with reason, spirit and desire as the three parts of the self, with reason controlling spirit and desire. Plato used an allegory of a chariot to explain how the the self (with horses as spirit and desire and reason as the chariot rider) are reining them in. However, Freud thought that reason was the weakest and could not control spirit and desire because humans are irrational.
Freud was seen to be the father of the psychoanalytic theory of the late 19th in to the 20th century.
Freud didn't regard himself as a philosopher, he actually regarded himself as a scientist and an inventor of new science. Freud was hugely doubted by professionals but he was, and still is to this very day, an extremely influential theorist, we cannot help it but we all live in a Freudian world, even now. Freud may be influential within society, but one practical aspect of his first theory has been pushed to one side - this is the use of hypnosis as a means of treating hysteria and mental illness. Hypnosis was stopped by Freud himself after publishing a work on hysteria in 1895 and was replaced with therapy (psychoanalysis) which was essentially exchanging words with the patient. Freud's psychoanalytic theory was summed up in to two theses - the first being that the greater part of our mental life is unconscious which linked in with the idea that Freud believed that the mind was divided into three parts (conscious mind, the part in touch with reality and what we know now in this exact moment). Preconscious mind is where knowledge and memories are stored until they are needed and the unconscious mind is knowledge we do posses but we are not aware of it - Freud believed that this knowledge is the most deepest desires. Freud went on to show how there is evidence of the unconscious through everyday mistakes, dreams and neurotic symptoms, he believes these were not accidental but contained hidden, true meaning. The second theses was said to be that sexual impulses are very important as the cause of mental health. The method of therapy was used instead of hypnosis because the hysterical symptoms presented were a result of memories of psychological trauma which the patient is not immediately aware of because it has been repressed into the subconscious. Within Freud's therapy, which is common to what is practised by therapists now, the patient was encouraged to talk about what ever was on their mind which would eventually lead to the patient blurting out something horrendous from their past. Freud became more and more convinced that relevant traumas happened in infancy and had sexual content. Because of Freud's clear obsession with sex and infancy separately and together as the cause of psychological trauma led to the estrangement with his former colleague Joseph Breuer, as a result Freud became somewhat isolated from all colleagues. It was around this time (1900) that he published probably his most important works - 'The Interpretation of Dreams', where he argues "dreams no less than neurotic symptoms were a coded expression of repressed sexual desires". Within 'The Interpretation of Dreams' Freud said that humans dream in code and dreams have a symbolic form that is given by the dreamer their self, and once it has been stripped of the symbolic form the dream can be revealed as sexual and/or oedipul - he believed that all dreams could be given sexual significance. But in order to show the sexual significance Freud believed you had to know what the dreamer associated a particular item or topic with (sexual association).
When Freud comes to interpreting the pattern of the unconscious mind the focus is on sex and sexual development in particular, it was very controversial for the time but Freud didn't care. Freud believes that there are three ways in the unconscious; 1. through everyday trivial mistakes 2. reports of dreams 3. the symptoms of neurosis, the exercise of free association in analysis reveals patterns of the unconscious. Sexual development is key here and particularly infantile sexuality. Freud states that there are stages within the development of infantile sexuality which beings with the oral stage, this is when the pleasure is focussed on the mouth. This is then followed by the anal stage which is between the ages of 1 and 3 years old which is focussed on eliminating bodily wastes during toilet training which has conflict between the Id and the Ego in terms of gratification of the task. Next is the Phallic stage where the child become almost obsessed with on their own genitals and this is where Freud believes that a male child will become attracted to his mother and will resent his father's possession of her, which Freud would say was an unconscious desire and the Ego is preventing the Id from getting what is wants. However, the child will start to worry that his father will castrate him so the attraction to his mother will vanish and will begin to identify with his father. This is called the Oedipus Complex, Freud began developing the female equivalent (Mutatis Mutandis) but it was never completely figured out.
Freud later replaced that of the unconscious with the Id, Ego and Superego and suggested that as long as the Ego is in harmony with the Id and superego then all will be well. But if, for any reason, these are not in harmony mental disorders will develop and specifically neuroses will develop if the Ego and Id were not in harmony, if the Id and the Superego were not in harmony it will cause melancholia and depression and finally psychoses will develop if the Ego is in conflict with the world. The Id, Ego and Superego can be linked to Plato - with the Id being Plato's appetite (epithumetikon) (desire of food and sex), the Ego is similar to Plato's reasoning power (logistikon) (part of the soul most in touch with reality) and the Superego resembles Plato's temper (thumoeides) (non-rational punitive force of morality - source of shame and self-directed anger).
Popper found great doubt in Freud's work and theory he believes that you cannot prove what Freud believes so how can you take it further. Even though Freud was doubted he was extremely influential in the 20th century and is still influential now.
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