‘something’ in the course of mental events; the question then is whether this ‘something’ can become conscious in the place where it is, or whether it must first be transmitted to the system Pept. Clinical experience decides for the latter. It shows us that this something’ behaves like a repressed impulse. It can exert driving force without the ego noticing the compulsion. > \[!tip\] The Ego > > The ego is the id modified by influence of perceptual system object-cathexis and Oedipus complex to describe the form of ego ### Object-choices and identificationSensations of a pleasurable nature have not anything inherently impelling about them, whereas unpleasurable ones have it in the highest degree. The latter impel towards change, towards discharge, and that is why we interpret un-pleasure as implying a heightening and pleasure a lowering of energic cathexis.' Let us call what becomes conscious as pleasure and unpleasure a quantitative and qualitative
At that time, however, we did not appreciate the full significance of this process and did not know how common and how typical it is. Since then we have come to understand that this kind of substitution has a great share in determining the form taken by the ego and that it makes an essential contribution towards building up what is called its ‘character At the very beginning, in the individual’s primitive oral phase, object-cathexis and identification are no doubt indistinguishable from each other. We can only suppose that later on object-cathexis proceed from the id, which feels erotic trends as needs. The ego, which to begin with is still feeble, becomes aware of the object-cathexis, and either acquiesces in them or tries to fend them off by the process of repression. The super-ego originates from the experience that let to totemism Early conflicts of the ego with object-cathexis of the id can be continued in conflicts with their heir, super-ego If the ego has not succeeded in properly mastering the Oedipus complex, the energic cathexis pf the latter, spring from the id will come into operation once more reaction-formation of the ego ideal. ## key concepts ### repression and civilization [[thoughts/repression|repression]] is the central mechanism through which civilization shapes psyche. what can’t be expressed within available social practices gets pushed out of consciousness, but returns in disguised form—symptoms, slips, dreams. see: [[library/Civilisation and its Discontents|Civilisation and its Discontents]] for extended analysis of how civilization requires instinctual renunciation, creating internal conflicts between id (desires), ego (rational mediator), and superego (internalized social norms). ### guilt and the superego [[thoughts/guilt|guilt]] arises from internalized aggression. civilization prohibits outward aggression; the superego redirects it inward, attacking the ego. this creates self-policing subjects who feel guilty even for forbidden thoughts. connection to [[thoughts/Wittgenstein|wittgenstein]]: guilt operates through language. superego forms through linguistic prohibitions (“don’t do that,” “you should”). even private conscience relies on socially learned language games. guilt presupposes community whose norms you’ve internalized. ### performativity and authenticity [[thoughts/performativity|civilization requires performance]]. you can’t simply “be yourself”—that would mean expressing id impulses directly. by the time you speak (ego function), you’ve already suppressed id content and ventriloquized superego prohibitions. what gets communicated is what survives psychic censorship. question: is authentic relationship possible? or does civilization make all social interaction into performance? see connections to sartre’s bad faith, goffman’s dramaturgy, butler’s performativity. ### language and socialization superego is linguistically transmitted. parents speak societal norms; child internalizes the speech itself. language is vehicle through which civilization enters psyche. every “don’t,” “should,” “must” inscribes social norms into internal structure. connection to [[thoughts/Wittgenstein#language games|wittgenstein's language games]]: learning language and acquiring superego might be same process. you simultaneously learn linguistic meaning, social practice, and moral prohibition. language games are inherently normative. see: [[library/Civilisation and its Discontents#exploratory connections freud and wittgenstein on language games|freud-wittgenstein connections]] for detailed exploration of how psychoanalysis and philosophy of language might illuminate each other. ## related works - [[library/Civilisation and its Discontents|Civilisation and its Discontents]] (1930): civilization requires instinctual renunciation, creating neurosis - [[library/Beyond The Pleasure Principle|Beyond The Pleasure Principle]]: introduces death drive (thanatos) alongside life drive (eros) ## connections to other frameworks - [[thoughts/identity|identity formation]]: psyche’s tripartite structure shapes who you become - [[thoughts/love|love and relationships]]: erotic love resists sublimation, creating tension with civilization - [[thoughts/hermeneutics|hermeneutics]]: therapy as interpretive practice, making unconscious conscious - [[thoughts/forms of life|forms of life]]: different civilizations shape different psychic structuresAt this point we must widen our range a little. We succeeded in explaining the painful disorder of melancholia by supposing that [in those suffering from it] an object which was lost has been set up again inside the ego-that is, that an object-cathexis has been replaced by an identification.