"Civilizations and Its Discontents"
1. According to Freud in his Civilizations and Its Discontents, what is man trying to gain or achieve in life by fending off his sufferings?
2. What, according to Freud are the three main sources of human suffering?
3. What are the many methods of "avoidance of unpleasure" and "fending off suffering" Freud discusses in the excerpt? (Make sure to list ALL of these methods in your response).
4. What does Freud see as the greatest threat to civilized society?
5. What does Freud mean by a "cheap enjoyment" when discussing technical progress, the cultural endeavors of humankind and our gained power of man over nature? Also give one of the examples of a cheap enjoyment from this excerpt.
6. Do you agree with his philosophy stated above?
7. How is Freud expressing the spirit of Modernism within this essay?
8. Do you agree with this statement: Freud argued that civilization was built on an inevitable conflict between humans' true desires and the requirements of work and achievement? Why or why not?
9. Analyze this quote from "Civilization and Its Discontents": Homo homini lupus [man is wolf to man].
10. How and why does Freud disagree with Lenin's basic premise as stated in "The State and Revolution"? (look in your textbook chapter about Vladmir Ilyich Lenin and the Russian Revolution).