[percy-l] I hope I am not becoming a pest
janet cantor
janetcantor37 at yahoo.com
Mon Jul 9 06:56:09 EDT 2012
Re: The Thanatos Syndrome of Walker Percy:
Eros and Thanatos—Freud
identifies two drives that both coincide and conflict within the individual
and among individuals. Eros is the drive of life, love, creativity,
and sexuality, self-satisfaction, and species preservation. Thanatos,
from the Greek word for "death" is the drive of aggression, sadism,
destruction, violence, and death. At the conclusion of C&D,
Freud notes (in 1930-31) that human beings, following Thanatos, have invented
the tools to completely exterminate themselves; in turn, Eros is expected
to "make an effort to assert himself in the struggle with an equally
immortal adversary. But who can foresee with what success and with what result?"
In Civilization
and its Discontents, Freud struggles
with paradoxes:
1.
Human behavior is motivated by a desire for happiness ("satisfaction
of needs"). Humans bond together to promote happiness. This
bonding or "civilization" works against individual happiness.
2.
Although civilization prevents happiness, it is necessary for human
life.
3.
In order for civilizations to be coherent, they channel their aggression
toward scapegoats (those excluded from the coherence), but with little effect:
"In this respect the Jewish people, scattered everywhere, have rendered
most useful services to the civilizations of the countries that have been
their hosts; but unfortunately all the massacres of the Jews in the Middle
Ages did not suffice to make that period more peaceful and secure for their
Christian fellows"
AND
this is an awkward kid who made a video for his teacher as a school
project to explain Existentialism. Forget about his hemming and hawing
and just listen to him. This is the clearest explanation of
Existentialism I have ever heard. Note especially what he says about
Kierkegard. I just love this primitive video:
Existentialism & Walker Percy.mp4
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