["spendius"]
Quote:Lola:-
The way I have been given to understand it Freud's main claim to fame is the perception that neurosis is intimately connected with the exigencies of civilisation.That civilisation and sickness go together.And that psychoanalysis was an attempt to do something about it using privileged people as guinea pigs.A sort of exposure of the fault line.
Freud thought this way initially but contemporary Freudians understand that Neurotic and relatively Healthy adaptations to conflicts are alike in everyway except in how well they work to get the job done. ( a healthy method on a scale from good to excellent -- no adaptation is perfect)
Example of neurotic adaptation (called compromise formations in the biz): Conflicting wishes, leading to a phobia, for instance, fear of enclosed spaces, adaptation -- avoid elevators and other small rooms, including trains and planes, maybe subway tunnels.
Ex. of a more healthy compromise formation: Conflict -- working as a journalist, or a aviator, or a writer, etc. another might be trapeze artist or baker, street cleaner. Any thing that is gratifying enough of most of the person's conflicting wishes, doesn't cause too much anxiety, not too much depression, is not destructive to self or others and doesn't come into too much conflict with the environment (both other people and nature.) You can see, I hope, how this would depend on the aptitude, talents and early life experiences of the person in question.
The neurotic compromise formation above of phobia is too restrictive, and limits the person's ability to gratify healthy adaptations, usually doesn't manage anxiety or depression well enough and usually makes life difficult for loved ones to qualify as healthy. The neurotic adjustment is also dependent on constitutional factors and early childhood experiences.
Notice I said healthy as opposed to normal. Normal is, as you have been given to believe, usually leaning toward the neurotic.
Quote:And that psychoanalysis was an attempt to do something about it using privileged people as guinea pigs.A sort of exposure of the fault line
Nothing is known for certain, science is evolving. We're all guinea pigs of a sort......and in Freud's time there was less known, so people were more piglike in their certainty of medical treatments. And yes, all the guinea pigs were wealthy. Psychoanalysis is not cheap. Supply and demand, you know.
Quote:The RCC's insistence on priestly celibacy,which follows a pattern that pre-dates the Church,is not just a whim.
Yes, it's not a whim. That which is not subject to observation and necessary adjustment (change) is dogma. Predating the church is certainly pre-enlightenment. Surely we've learned a thing or two since then. I would hate to think philosophers had to live like priests. How would they know anything to philosophize about? Besides it's too much to ask of any civil servant, or any person, for that matter. Monasticism is outdated, just as is the church. We could talk all day for weeks about how the church is a compromise formation that works poorly in comparison to playing racquetball or sleeping late on a Sunday morning, for instance.
Quote:I saw an art-work during the Superbowl of a human face draughted almost entirely in straight lines.
This is going a bit far, I think. I prefer my straight lines in cities and certain parts of the male anatomy.
Hope you're doing well. I'm still working. Deadline next Tuesday.
