Aggression

To continue on a note that we spoke of in class, I agree that Freud makes a distinct note of the animosity between the demands of instinct and the restrictions of civilization. This makes Freud's views on man’s aggressive or destructive instincts particularly complex. In part this is because impulses of hatred, anger and aggression are, from Freud’s perspective, rooted in self-preservation. In Freud’s vision of man and society, violence is deemed as the basis of our existence on two levels; the violence in the uninhibited instinct and the violence which our culture practices against one another. What makes this esspecially interesting is how this concept plays into the possibility of achieving harmony, which as Freud states must come from an equal amount of impulsive actions of agression and restraint as seen in his analogy of fire.