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    17 views15 pages

    Freud War and Death

    Uploaded by

    Samrat Sengupta
    Freud's writing on War and Death

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    THE STANDARD EDITION (OF THE COMTLETS FSYCHOLOGICAL WURKS OF SIGMUND FREUD Translated fom th German ander the Genial Eaitorship of JAMES STRACHEY Jr Collaboration with ANNA FREUD Ast by ALIX STRACHEY and ALAN TYSON voLumE xiv ok1916) On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement Papers on Metapsychology nd Other Works Lonpon THE HOGARTH PRESS AND THE INSTITUTE OF FSYCHO-ANALYSIS (S97 63092 ZEITGEMASSES UBER KRIEG UND TOD (2), Grrsan Boron 1915 Imag 4 (1), 1-21 1918 SIR.S.N, 4, 486-520, (1922, 2rd ee) 1e24 GS, 10, 315-346. 1924 Leipzig, Vienna and Zusich: Taterationaler Peycho= ‘aalysscher Verlag, Pp. 39. 165 G.I, 10, 324-35, (@) Exot Travsxmons Refetons on War aed Desth 1918 New York: Mott, Yard. Pp. fi +72. (Te A. A. Bull fand A.B, Kutiner) “Thoughts forthe Times on War and Death? 1025 GP, 4, 288-317. (Te F.C. Mayne) “The present translation s based on the one published in 1925, "These two essays were writen round about March and April, 1915, some si months after the outbreak ofthe fst World War, and txpre some of Freud's consered views on it. His more perseual reactions wil be found described in Chapter VIL of net Jones's second volume (1955). Aletter written by bi to a Dutch acquaintance, Dr. Frederik van Eeden, was publidhed shirt me belore the presnt work: ie appears ne an append belove, p: 301. Towards the end ofthe same year, 1915, Freud wrote another esty on an analogous theme, “On Transience’, ‘hich will abo be found below (p. 305}. Many years later he ‘resumed to the abject once more in his open lter to Einstein, Wy War? (19356), Tha second of the present two exsays on death—seems to have been first read by Freed at a meeting, carly in Apa, 1915, of the Waal B'rith the Jewish dub in ‘Vienna to which he belonged fora large part ‘of bis lf. (CZ 194le) This say i, of course, co a great extent based on the amie material ae Seedion IL of Toten nd Talo (1912-15). “Extracts ftom the teaslation ofthis work published ia 1925, were included in Rickman’s Cislization, War and Death, Selo Tins jom Three Werks 6 Sigmand rend (1938, 1-25). THOUGHTS FOR THE TIMES ON WAR AND DEATH 1 ‘THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR 1y the confusion of wartime in which we are caught up, relying as we must on onesided information, sanding too close to the teat changes that have already taken place or ate beginning 1, and withowta glimmering of te future tht is being shady, weourselves areata los as to Ue aignienncs of te aprestions ‘which press in upon us and as to the vale ofthe judgements Bh erm. We cantar bt fl that vet Ha eet jestroyed ao much that ie precious ia the common postessions of Ihumanity, confised so many ofthe clearer intelligences, ot 0 thoroughly debased what is highest. Science beret has lose het patsonlessimpartaliys hee deeply embittered servants seek for ‘weapons from her with which to contibute toward the struggle with the enemy. Anthropologists feel driven to declare him fnferior and degenerate, prychiatss iste a diagnos of lis disease of mind or sprit. Probab, however, our sense of these jmmeciate evils is disproportonately strong, and we are not entitled to compare them with the evil af ote ines which we have not experienced, ‘The individual who is mot himsel'acombatant—and eo a cog in the gigantic machine of war—feele bewldezed in his orieatar tion, and inhibited in his powers and aetvics,Tbeliove that he will weleome any indieation, however alight, which will ‘make easier for him to find his bearings within himelf at least, propose to pick aut wo among the factots whieh are respon sible for the mental disteas felt by nomcombatants, against ‘which iti such @ heavy tsk vo sruggle, and to teat of them haere: the diilusionmeat which this war has evled, and the altered atitude awards death which thir—like every other war fore! upon ‘Whea T speak of disitusionment, everyone will know at once what T mean, One need not be a sentimentality one may ‘ns 6 TROUGHS ON WAR AND DEATH perctve the bislogiel and paychological ccesty for aufeing In the economy of human Ie, and yet condemn war boch in it ‘eats and ends and lang for the cezation ofall wars. We have told outselies, no doubt, that wars ean never cease 0 long as ations Hve under such widely difering conditions 9 long at the valuc of individual life ito variously steed among them, sd long asthe snimosites which divide them represent such poverful motive forces in the mind. We were prepared to Sind {hat ware between the primitive and the cvllzed. peoples, Dbetwoen the races wh art divided by the colour of thie sin ‘wars even, against and among the nationalities of Europe whose ‘lization i tle develope or has been lost—would occupy takin fr some me to come, But we permitted ourselves to Ihave other hopes. Wea expected dhe great world-domizating nations of white ce upon whom the leadership ofthe humat species has fallen, who were known to have word.side acerca 35 their eancern, to whaie creative powers were due not oaly fue technical advances towards the conta of nature but the frtstc and scientiiestandards of civlization—we had expected these peoples to succeed in discovering another way of veiling ‘minsaderstandings and confics ofinteret. Within each ofthese tations high norms of moral eondact were Taid dowa for the Individval, to which his manacr of fe was bound to conform iF dhe deseo take parein a vaieed commamity, These orin~ ances, often too stingent, demanded a grest dea a him—much SelFrestesint, much renutciaton of instinctual satisfaction. He ‘was above al forbidden to make wse of the immense advantages to be gained by the practice af yng and deception inthe come petition with his fetow-men. ‘Te eiized stats regarded these Tnoral tandatde a che bai of thei existence. They took eros tops if anyone ventured to tamper with dem, and often ‘clare it improper even to subject thers to examination by a ‘tcl intelligence, It was 0 be assumed, thereto, chat the ‘ate tue would seapect them, and would not think of ondert ing anything against them which would contradict he basso ‘vin existence, Observation showed, tobe sure, that embedded in these civiied states there were reamants of certain other peoples, which were universally unpopular and had therefore been only rehictantly, and even so not fully, admitted to par tlpation in the common work of chilization, for which they had shown themselves suitable enough, But the great nations () THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE WaR 277 hemalver, might have been mipposc would have aqived so much comprehension of what they fad in common, aud 40 siuch tolerance lar cheir differences, that foreigner and enemy” could no longer be merged, as they stil were in classical fntiquity, into a single concept ‘Relying on this unity among the civilized peoples, countless men and women have exchanged thei naive home fr foreign tne, sad made their existence dependent on the intrcote ‘munications betveea fendly nations, Moreover aayoue who ‘was aot by sre of circumstance confined t one spot cou create for himself out of all the advantages and atrnctions of | those civilized countries a new and wider fatherland, i which hae could move about without hindrance or sgpicion. In this way he enjoyed the blue sea and the gveys the beauty of mow covered mountains and of green meadow lande; the magic of northern forests and the splendour of southarn vegetation; the ‘mood evoked by landscapes tha recall great historical evens, And the silence of untouched nature, This new fatherland was ‘museum for him, to0, filled with all the treasures which the tits of ehvlizet humanity had in the succesive centrios treated aul left behind, Av he wandered from one gallery €9 fanother in this moseam, he conld reeoguize with ‘impartial {ppreciatan what varied types of perfection a mixture of bad, the coure of history, and the special quality of thei mother: cexzth had produced among his compatriot i thie wider wave, Here he would find cool, inflesible energy developed to the highest point; there, che graceful art of beaubiVing existence; lewhere the feling fr orderliness snd la, oF others among the qualities which have made mankind the leds ofthe earth "Nor must we forge the each of thee citizen of the civilized world had eteatd for himvelf a ‘Parnassus and a ‘Schoo! of Athens’ ofhisown.* From among the great thinkers, writers aad artists ofall nations ke had chosen the to whom he ousidened Ine owed the best of what he had buen able to achiewe in enjoy- ‘meat and understanding of lie, and he had venerated them along with the immortal ancients as well as with the familiar \ wo of the Banaue faces by Rapin the Papal Aparnents ‘Vaan. One of them zepronuis 4 gp of the welds reat Dont and the uber ania eroup of ser. The Ise Bran (1906) Standard Fa, 4,314, Feast ao he sme to pang ‘is pune one of te tetniqus eagle by the decor 38 THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH ‘mazter of his own tongue. None ofthese great men had seme to hit foreign beemure they spoke another Language neither the incomparable explorer of human passions, nor the in- toxieated worshipper of beauty, nor the powerful and menacing prophet, nor the tube sas and he mover reproached hime elf on that accoum for being a renegade towards his own, nation and bis beloved motber-iongue "The enjoyment of this common civilization was disturbed fiom time to ame by warning voles, which declared that al teaditional diferences made wars inevitable, even among the ‘members of community such as this, We retused to belive it but fsuch a war were to happen, how did we picture it? We saw it as an opportnity for demonstsaing the progres: of ‘conity among men since the era when the Greek Amphictyonic Council proclaimed that no city of the league might be lsttoyed, nr ies olive-groves cut down, aor its watersupply "topped we pictred it ata ehivalros passage of arms, which ‘watld lini fuel to ctablihing the superiority of ne side in the struggle, while as far ar ponsble avniding aeate euler tae ould coatsibute nothing to the decsion, and granting ‘complete immunity for the sounded who had to withdraw From the contest, as well as for the doctors and nurs who devoted themselves to their recovery. There woud, of eoure, be the wont consideration fr the nom-oombatant clases of the population—for women who take no part in war-work, and for the children who, when they are grown up, should become on both sides one another's fiends and helpers. And agin, all he Jneeational undertakings snd insitcions in which the come ‘mon civilization of peacetime had been embodied would be maintained. ‘Even a warlike thie would have produced enough horror and suffering; but ie would not have inerrupted the development | ‘thical sltionebetwoen thecellctiveindividdals of mankiad— te peoples and sate "Thea the war in which we had refused to believe broke out, snd it broughtdielludonment. Not onl iit more bloody and tore destructive than any war of other days, because of the feormpwly increased. perfection of weapons of attade and efence i is atleast as rue, as embittered, as implacable as ‘any that bas preceded it. Te doregard all the restrictions known 4s Intemational Lay, which in peace-ime che states had (0) THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR 279 Bound shemales to observe it gnoes the prerogatives of de ‘wound andthe mela sevcm the distinc toe Between cil {nd miltary secon of the poplaton he claims of pate property. Te samples ia lind fry an al tat comes in is way, Er though there wer tobe no fc and no peace amnong men Sher tts over Tt eal the common bonds between the com tending people, and hzetens to leave m legacy of emer ‘nc ht wl mate ay eel he od pair Moreves tar rough tight a los inedible pheno smenont the vied naons knoe and understand one ater folie hacone can tara again ie ler with hate sn lat dng. Indeed, one of the gest cine nations i wo universally Uspopelat thatthe auampt can aenally be made to exude Kron the vied community at babar although thas log proved is fines by the magaicent contbuton fo that cm uni which chat made? Wellin hopes thatthe pagesoran Jnpartal history wil prove Wat that aon in whee language wwe write and for whowe victory our deat oes ae Ging, has ten precly the one wick has Tea tranagrened the ave of Givin. But at euch ie who dart st himslf up 38 Sng in is own cause. Peoples ae more o le repretented by the sates which they fo, an hese states by the governments which nether Thc Jnvidualeaen can ith bore convince insell in this war ot wha would ocsonaly com hit mind in peae-mie—at thestate hs forbidden othe individual the practice of wrong ling, not Lecatse devs to bol iy but because dss to monopolize ye ml and abacr. A beligerent sate per ris itl every sich sded, every seh act of wlence, as ‘would disgrace the indval 4'makes we aginst the enemy ot only af the aceped re gure, but of Glierate lying Bnd deception at welland io a degre: which seme to exceed ‘he wage of former ware, The sate enacts the moet degre of obedience and ssrfce fom iu edzen, bt at hese tne treats them ke children by an exces ofcrecy and a cesoehip “po news snd expresion of option wc ave the pn ot ‘lowe whos intel ie sprees defences aint eveay ‘favourable tm of evens and every ster funour Te 2 [Crores hack hice of he oh pang of apeer Viol Freud's dnungphical Say (1925) a t THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH. absoles isl from the guarantees and treaties by which it was ound to other states, and confasty shamelely to its own rapacity and jst for power, which the private individual has ‘then to sanction in the name of patitim. TE shoold aoe be objected thatthe site cannot refrain fom ‘wrongetoing, since that would place it ata diudvantage. It no les disadvantageous, a6 @ general rule, forthe individual ‘mon to confoom tothe standards of moralisy ad tela from brutal and arbitrary conduct; and he state seldom proves able (0 indemnify him forthe sueriGees it exact, Nor should it be a matter for surprie that this relaxation of all the moral ties berween the collective individuals of mankind shovld have had repercussions onthe morality of individuals; for our conscience ‘shot the inflexible judge tha ethical teachers declare it, but in ‘ts origin i oral ansicty’ and nothing clze* When che come ‘unity no longer ralsesobjactons, there isan end, too, tothe suppression of evil passions, and men perpetrate deeds of fructy, fraud, Geachery and barbarty so incompatible with their level of ehilization that one would have thought them imposible. ‘Well may the citizen ofthe civilized word of whom T have spoken stand helplea in a world that has grown strange eo him hie grent fatherland disintegrated ite common estates Tid wus, is fellwcitinns divided and debated! "There is something to be said, however, in evisicism of his issppointment. Stiely speaking it x not jutied, for it cone tise in the destruction of an ian, We welcome illusions because they spare ur unpleasurable feng, and enable us to ‘enjoy satisfstionsinsrad. We must not complain then, now dnd again they come ito eollsion with some partion of ely, and are shattered against "Tyo things in this war have aroused our sense of disiuson- rent: the low morality shown externally by states which in theit internal relations pose a the guardians of moral standard, and the brutality shown by individuals whom, os participants inthe [ighert human cuization, one would aot have thought capable of rich behavioar ‘Let ns begin with the second point and try co formulate in a few brit words, the poincof view that we wish to ciicize. How, * [Bred lead given ee snp view of the ature of cooaiene init pape on nun 1514) See shan, p38] (Tm DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR 261 in point of fact. do we inagine the procs by which aa in- Clalit a somparately gh plone of mori? The Sn anaver wil no doube simply be that he x vircans and thie fom Bich tom the vey ar. We sl wo conser {Easy Rr Acdsee te re conerned with adevopmental proce and wil proba fssume ‘lat the development const in eradicating Ne iitman tendencies and, under he infuene of elution and cried environment, reslacing then by good ones I xis Severtlem surpriing that oul shoud reemsrge vs such fics in anyone who Bas Bon rough ap a hs way But this anger alo contains the thay which we propose to contradic Tn veal, tere no sch thing seratiatng el Bychlpcalor, more ater speaking, pychonanayse— Snveigation shows tad that she eepck tence furan ature const of inncual impute which are of an lee ‘mentary nature, whi are silat allen and wich en a ‘hesaaton a eran primal nee, Paap theme ses are ether go or bad We classy tem ant tha {spresins in tht wy, acorn othr ean heeds Se demands of te numa commie ste ranted hat Al the mpes which oe conce ester tae a Fepreentave the sli ad the erst onee—ate of he pint ekind. "Thee prinsive impulses undergo a lengty proces of development bere they act lbw to become alive in the adult They are ihiited, directed towards ether sme and Els, become commingled the obj, eae fo ome extent tned back upon thelr poser, Resto frmations {ist certain tnt ake the despre fom of change fn thar eontnt, ss chough equim had changed into alee ot tracy ito pity? Thee Teaedonformaten are fated by Shedim dn soe nce ape eae te Appearance slat fom the inp f opporee—a very” remarlable phenomenon, and one strange to te lay public, trich is fered “ambalnee of feclng ‘The wnat easly Dincred and comprehen tance of ti the fact thet intent ove and inte hatred are soften tobe ond together ‘he same peran.Peyeho-aaljs ade thatthe epposed felings et infequenty have the sme penon force ebect. [Cl eatinct and ter Vciniade (0910), p 129 above] 2 THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH. eis not uns all thee “natinctaal viciasitade? have been surmounted that what we cata person's character i lormied, ‘nd this, as we know, ean only very inadequately be lsd “oot” or ‘bad’ A human being is seldom altogether good ot Dd he is wsually good? in one relation and "bad in another, cr “yood" in certain external creumstances and in others ecidedly ‘ba’. It isinteretng to find that the preenitence of strong ba? impulses innfaney is fen the acta condition for ‘an waumistakable inclination towards ‘good? in the ale, Those ‘who as chikien have been the moat pronounosd egits may ‘well Become the mas elpfl and elPstcificing members of te ‘community; mos of our sendinentalos ends of nimanity snd protectors of animals have been evolved from itl sadist and snlinaltormentors, "The transrmation of baa intinet is brought about by two factors working in the same divecdon, an internal and an ‘extemal one. ‘The internal factor contiss in the iafluence ‘exercised on the bad flee ws sey, the egoistic) instincts by crotism—that i, Iy the human need for love, taken in ite widest sense, By the adauixtare of ete components the eoieic insincu are wansformed into ssi! ones, We learn to value being loved as an advantage for which we are willing 10 sacrilice other advantages. ‘The extemal factor. i the force cxercised by upbsiging, which represents the claim of our cultural envionment, and tise continued later by the direct pressure of that environment, Grliation haa been attained through the renunciation of instinctual satsaetion, and it demands the same renunciation from each newoomer in tarh, ‘Throughout an natvidua's ie theresa constant replacement ofexternal by intemal eompullon, The infuences of eization ‘cause an cverincreasing tansformation of egolstic trends into Slinistie and social ones by an admintare of erotic elements. 18 ‘the last eure t may be astumed that every internal compulsion which males isefteic in the development of human beings wat tiginally hat isin the itr of mantiad—only an external ‘one. Those ho are born to-day bring with them a an inherited ‘organization some degre of tendency (dlspodion) towards the transformation of eget into seta instincts, anc this disposi tion is easly stsmuated into briaging about that ree. A. Surther portion of this insinetual transformation hae ta be accomplished ding the lie of the individual himself. So the (@) THE DIsELUSIONMENT OF THE WAR ats dnuman being is subject not only othe pressure his immediate cultral envzcament, but also to the influence of the cultural Iisiory of his ancestors we give tie name of ‘susceptibility ¢o culture’ to a man’s peronal espacity forthe transformation of the esate iapules funder the inuence oferty, we may further affirm that thi susceptibility s made up of two part, one innate and de other acquired in the coure off, und thst che relation of thee to faich other and to that portion of the instinctual fe which euains untansformea i very variable one ‘Generally speaking, we are apt to attach too much import- ‘ance tothe innate part, and in addition to this we ran the risk Of overestimating the total suscepsbility to elias im vorpati= fen with the portion of instinct He which has remained primitivedhat is, we are misled lato regarding men a “beter than they actually are, For tere is yet another element which obscures our judgement and fale che ive in a favourable "The instinctual impulies of other people are of courte hidden from our observasion. We infer them om thls actons ane behaviour, which we trace back tometer arising from thei intinetwal lee Such an inference is Bound to be extuneous i ‘any cases. This ar that action which is ‘good’ from the cultural point of view may in one instance originate from & “able” motive, in another not, Ethical theorists else a2 “good” actions only tore which ate the outcome uf good impulses: to the others tay refae recognition. But society, which practical In its aims is not on the whole woubled by Wis distinction; i content if'a maa regulates his behaviour and actions by the Drecrpts of evideation, audi te concerned with his motives, ‘We have learned thatthe etal comfulson exercised on human being by his upbringing and envieoument produces a further tansformation towards good in heinstnctual Mea, further taming from egoim towards slirusm, But this i not the zegular or necesary effec ofthe external compulsion, Up= bringing and environment noe only offer benefits im the way of love, but alo employ ther kinds of incentive, namely, rewards ‘nd punishment. In this way their effect may turn Out to be that & person who is subjected to thei influence will choate to behave well in the cultnal sense of the phrase, altiough no ennoblement of instinet, no tansiormaton of eqoistic into 20) THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH. lira inclinations, hat taken plare in him. "Tae ret oughly apeabing, be the same only particular concatenation fofdroumstances wil reveal tht one man always ats ima good ‘way because his instinctual inclinations compel him to, and the other is good only in = far and for so long ae such cultural Tehaviout is advantageous for his own sash purpores. Bat superficial acquaintance wih an individual will not enable as ‘a distinguish between the wo eases, and we are certain mis Ted by our optimism into grosly exaggerating the number of hhumen brings who have Deon tansformed in acultral sense. Grvltzed society, which demuads good conduct and doesnot ‘woublo‘tselabour the iestineval basi of this conduct, ha tht ‘wom over to obedience a great many people who are notin thi {allowing thei own natures. Encouraged by this saceet, society hag allowed itv tobe misled info cightening the moral standard tothe greatest posable degree, and it hat thus forced ite members into a yet greater estrangement Som their in- Sinctual dpesition. "They are eomequently subject to an unceasing suppression of instinct, and the Yeuling tension betrays itielfin the mos remarkable phenomena of reaction and compensation, Inthe domain of sexuality, where such suppres son is mes cfcult co eaery out he result issen in the reactive pheaomens of neurotic disorder. Elsewhere the presure of ‘vilization brings ia is usin no pathological ruts, is rue, bb fsshown in malformations of character, din the perpetual readines of the inkbited inatinets to break through to ext faction at any suitable opportunity. Anyone thus compelled to act continually in accordance with precepts which are not the ‘expression of his insinesalincinatons, is Living, paychologice ally speaking, beyond his meanr, and may objectively be described as & hypocrite, whether be is clesely aWware of the incongruity or not. Tt undeniable that our contemporary lization favours the production of this form af hypoctsy (© fan extraordinary extent. One might ventute to say that i¢ 8 Dail up oa such hypocry, and that i would have tubal Jreaching modifications if people were to undertake to lve it accordance with psychological eruth, Thus there are very many ‘ore cultural hypocrites than aly civilized men-inded, iis debatable point whether a certain degree of cultural hypoceisy [buot indispensable forthe maintenance of vilzation, because she suiceptbiley to culture which has hitherto Been organized (0) "RUS DISHLLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR 285 fn the minds of present-day men would pethape nat prove ffcent forthe tatk- On the other hand, the maintenance of ciliztion even om so dubious a basi oes the prospect of ‘paving the way in each new generation fora more far-reaching transformation of inainct which shall be the vehicle ofa eter Svilization, ‘We may already derive one consolation from this discussion: ‘our mortification and our painfl diiluionment on account of the uncivilized behaviour of our fellow-citizens of the world uring this war were unjustified. They were based on an ilkaion te which we had given ay. In realty ou fellow-citizens have ‘ioe sok slow as we feared, because they had never risen s0 High ar we believed, The fact thatthe collective individuals of mankind, the peoples and state, mutually abrogated their orl reetrsints naturally prompted Uhee individual cizens © ‘withdraw for a while rom the constant pressure of eivilization fn ta granta temporary stehction tothe instincts which they Ihad been holding in check. This probably invelved no breach in thar relative morality within their own nations ‘We may, however, obtain a deeper insight than this into the change bromght about by the war in our former compatios, Sad atthe same time seeeive a warning against doing them 2% [njustce, For the development ofthe mind shows a pecuieity ‘which i present in no other developmental proces, When a Village growe into a town or a eld into a man, the village and the cil become losin the twa and the man. Memory alone fan trace the old fentres inthe new picture: and in fact the old materials or forms have been got vid of and replaced by new nes, Iti othervise with the development of the mind. Here fone can describe the state of affairs, hich has nothing to com- pare with it only by sying that fm this ease every earlier stage of development penie slongaide the Inter sage which has frien rom it; ere suecesion also involves co-xistence, although itis to the same matetile tht the whole series of transformations has eppled. The easier mental state may not Ihave mauileted itt for year, but none Sve Ten i i 0 far present that it may at any time again become the mode of - ‘expression of the fress ia the mind aad ine dhe only oe, 28 though all Inter developments had been annulled or undone, ‘This extranrdlaary planicty of mental development is not unrestricted at regards divcton; it may be described as a 28 THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH special capacity far involution —for regresion—since it may ‘well happen that a later and higher stage of development, onc abandoned, cannot be reached again, But the primitive seages ‘aa always bere-stablisheds the primitive mind iin the lest meaning of the word, imperishable, ‘What arcalled mental diseases inevitably produce animprse- sion inthe layman chat ntelletual and atental life have been Aesiroyed. In realty, the dastruedon only applies to leer acquisitions and developments, The esence of teal csease lies in return to ealie state of alfectve life and of fanction- ing. An excellent example of the plasticity of meutal ie i allowed by the state af sleep, which is our gosl every night Since we have leant to interpret even abaird and eonfsed dreams, we know that whenever we gota sleep we throw affour hhardewou morality ike a garment, and put it on aguin next ‘morning. This ripping oF ounelves ie not of cours, dangers, because We ae paralysed, condemned to inactivity, by the state of sleep. Its only dreams that can tll ur about the regression, ‘four emotional ito one of the ears stages of development, For instanes, itis noteworthy that all our dreams are governed by purely egoisie motives One af my English fends pu fore ‘ward this thesis at scientific meeting in America, wheseupan a lady who was present remarked that dat might be te ca in ‘Anstia, but she coud assert as regunds hersef and her fends ‘at thy were altuistec even in their dreams. My fiend, although himself of English race, was obliged to conteadice the lady emphatically om the ground af his personal experience in dreamanalyss, and to. declare that in their dreams high: minded American ladies were quite at egostie a the Auszins. "Thus the transformation of iinet, on which our suscep bilty to culture is based, may abo be permanently or tempore srily undone by the impactr of lie. The influences of war are lundoubtedly amoag the forees that ean bring. about sack involtion; so we nesd not deny sareepibility to culere to al, who ar at the present tine behaving in an uncvied way, and ‘we may antlpate that the ennoblement of their istnets wil be restored in more peacefil times. ru Iter qualied dis view in an addon made ia 1995 to a footnote to The Imitation of Deon (Sundar Ba 4,270) whee eso tll the anecdote whic flows. The “Enesh Git a tha made pla, wes Dr. Erna Jone) () THE DISHLLUSIONMENT OF THE WAR 287 ‘There i, however, snather srmptom in oar ftlectnane of the world which has perhaps abtonshed and shocked sno less tan the descent from their ethical heights which has given ws somuch pain. What Ihave in mind isthe want of insight shawn by the best intllecss, thei obduracy, thes inaceeabiity tothe ‘lost forcible argument and their unertcal credulity towards the most dispatable asertios. This indeed presents a lament- able picture, an T wish to say emphatically that in this Lam by tno means a blind partisan who Hinds all the intellectual short Comings on one side. Bat this phenomenon is mitch easier 10 account for and much les disgueting than the one we have just foraidered. Stucents of human natare and plulospliers have Jong taught us that are mistaken ia regardingourinteligence satan independent foree and in overlooking itt dependence on ‘emotional if. Ourimtllect,chey wach wean fines reliably ‘only when tis removed fom the infences of strong emotional impolses; otherwise ie behaves merely at an instrument of the will and delivers the inference which the will requires, Thus, in their view, logical arguments are impotent against affective interest, and that is why dspotes backed by reasons, which in Falstaff: phrase aze ‘as plenty ag blacKerries’ are so unui {iin the world of interests. Psychoanalytic experience has, if posible, fizther confined this statement. Tt can show every Alay that the shrewdest people will all af a sudden behave with- ‘out insight, like lmbeciles,a¢ soon asthe necenary insight ie ‘onfeonted by an emotional resistance, but that they will cue pletely regain their understanding once that reristance has been ‘overoome, The logical bedazslemtet which ths var bes coe jured up in our llow-ctizens, many of them the best of their Kad, i therefore a secondary phenomenon, a consequence of ‘motional excitement, andis bound, we may hope, to cisappear with “Having in this way once more come to understand ou fellow clizess who are nov alienated from ts, we shall much wore taal endure the dissppaiutinent whch the nations the collec tive individuals of mankind, have envsed i, for the demands ‘we make upoa these should be far more modet, Perhaps they are recaptulating the course of individual development, and today atl zepreseat very primitive phases in onganiation and {nthe formation of higher untics I inn agreement with thie * [See p. 24x] {8 THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH that the educative factor of an extemal compulsion towards imotality, whieh we foand was to elective ia individual x ne yet barely discernible in them. We had hoped, erally, that the extensive community of interests establsed by commerce ani production would constisate the germ of such a compulsion, ibucie would seem that nations sill obey ther passions far more readily than their interes, Thee incerest serve thes, at rast, 25 ratosalizatins for ther pasions; they put forward their interests in order to be able to give reasons for saying the passions. Its, to be sure, a mystery why the collective in ‘Ssidual should infact despise, hate and detest ope another— very uation agninst every ather—and even in times of peace. ‘amt tell ity that is. Tis jut as though when it becomes a ‘question ofa numberof people not to say milins all individual ‘oral acquisitions are obliterated, and only the most primitive, the oldest, the crudest mental atitodes are lef. Lemay be that only later stages in development will be able to make some ‘change in this regrettable stateof affairs. Buta litle more crue falnesr and honesty on all sein the eelatons of men to one another and becweea them aad their rulere—should. alo ‘smooth the way for this ransormasin.® (op 28-6 seve) ts qui wh eed inne sy ener {ft any Caan” Sean thir) Moe News nea (1008) late Con and tr Dan (1950). uw OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEATH ‘Tar second factor 19 which Y atsibute our present sense of cetrangement in this onee lovely and congenial world isthe Gistrbance that has akea place inthe atitade which we have hitherto adopted towards death. ‘That atid was far from staightforward. ‘To anyone who Tistened to us we were ofcourse prepared to maintain that death was the necesary outoome of lie, that everyone ewes nature a ‘death! and must expect to pay the debt—in short, tat death ‘as natural, undeniable and unavoidable. In reality, howeven, wwe veere accustomed to behave at if it were otherwise, We shoved an unmistakable tendency to put death en onesie, to tliminae it from ie. We tied to huh it ups indeed we even hhave a saying [in Getman]: ‘to think of something as though it ‘were death’? "That i, as though it were our own death, of Course I s indeed imnponsble to imagine ovr own dest aad ‘whenever we attempt to da eo we caa perceive that we art in fact sil present a spectator. Hence the peyebo-analytic school could ventoreon the wsertion that at bottom uo cue bellows ia is own death, ot, to put the Sm thing in anther way, that im the unconscious every one of us is canvinéed of his own immortality "When it comes to someone clas death, the civilized maa will carefully avoid speaking of such a possibility ithe hearing of | the perton under sentence, Children aloae disregard this resticton; they unashamediy threaten one another with the ‘osbity of dying, and even go so far a to do the same thing to someone whom they love, as, for instance: ‘Dear Mummy, ‘when you're dead I'l do this or that! The civilized adule can hardy even entertain the thought of another person's death 2 (A seminacance of ance Hab emavk to Fabtall ia J Hoy IV, vy 1 Tho enert God a death Ths was avout iuotaton of Ficus, See, fr lastanie, The Iopeton of Drs, Sard Ey Sy 205 ands ltr to Fas of Fehrunry 6, 1899 (Pe, 1950, Let 10g), in which he expicity abso Sharper.) fhe. to tak something ule or Increbie} without seeming to himelfhard-heasted or wicked; unless, of Course, a a doctor or lawyer or something ofthe kind, fe has {ordeal with death profesonaly, [east of l will he lloe him self to think of the other persons death if some gain to himnselt Jn feedam, property or pauiton is bound up with i This Senstivenes of ours does net, ofcourse, prevent the occurrence ff deaths; when one does happen, we are always deeply afected and itis as though we were badly shaken in out ‘expectations, Our habit sto laystresson the fortuitous eausation| ofthe death-—sccdet, disease, infection, advanced age; inthis ‘way we betray an effort to reduce death from a necanity 0 a cchiuce event, A number of simultaneous deaths strikes 38 something exivemely tenble, Towards the actual person who thas died ve adopt & special attitude—something almost lke tdiniration for sameane who has accomplished a very dificult task, We suspend criticism of him, overlook his posible mise deeds, decate that 'de mertis wil sist bom? and think it jsifable to set out ll that is most fsvoursbe to his memory {nthe feral oration and upen the tombtone. Consideration for the dead, wha, afte all, nb longer ned is more important to us than the auch, and certainly, for most of ws, than com sideration for the Hivng, ‘The complement to this cultural and conventional atiiude towards death is provided by our complete calapse when death, ths sruck dowa somone whom we lovea parent or a partner in martage, a brother or sister, 2 child ora close fiend. Our hopes, our desires and our pleasures fie in the grave with hit, ‘we will ot be consoled, we wil not il the lost one's place. We behave a i we were 2 Lind of Asra, who die when those dhe love die ‘ut this attitude of our towards death has a powerfl effect ‘nour lives. Life is impoverished, it loses in interest, when the ‘ihe stake in the game of ving, Hie ital, may not be risked. 1 becomes as shallow and empty ag Jet urea, an America cation, in which it 8 understood ffom che fst that nothing isto happen, a: contrasted with a Continental love-affsir in Which Botk partners mast constantly bear ie serous con secjgences in mind. Our emotional ties, the unbearable intensity 1 ue Ais ip Helac's poem (Der Aen Romano, bated on a paige Siudbals De as) were ibe of Aska eet Dep vey (0 OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEATH 201 of our arch, make ws disinclined to court danger for ourselves tnd for those who belong wo ws. We date not contemplate & {reat many undertakings which are dangerous bata fet inciae Dpensable, such as attempss at ardcial fight, expeditions 0 Gistant counties or experiments with explosive substances, We fate paralysed by the thought of who ito take the son's place ‘with his mother, the husband's ith his wife the father with his childten, it disaster should eecur. Thus the tendency to cxclade death from our calelations in fe brings in its tain many other renumeiations and exclusions. Yet the motto ofthe Hanseatic League ran: 'Natgare see et, ere noms? Et Bs necessary to sail the seas, ts not necesary to ive") cis an inevitable result ofall tia chat we should ssi in the world of fiction, i Iteramure and in the theatre compensation for what has een tos in ie. There we sll find people who Know how to die~who, indeed, even manage to Ril someone cls There alone oo the condition eaabe filled which makes Ut possible for us to reconcile ourselies with death namely that Dbchind all the vicisitudes of lit we should stil be able to preserve a Iie intact. For jt is really to sad that in Beit Should beasts in ches, where one false move may force us resign the game, bat withthe diferene that we can start 10 Second game, no returnsmatch Ta the res of ftion we find the plurality of lives which we need. We die with the hero with ‘whom we have identified ourselves; yet we survive im, and are raul to die again just as safely with another hero. eis evident that war ix bond to sweep avay thie conven sional ereatment of death. Death wil no longer he denied; we are forced to belive in it, People really die; and na longer one by one, but many, often tens of chousands, in a single day. And death is uo langer a chance event, To be sue, i ail seemt 8 rmatter of chance whether a Bullet hit this man or that; but & econ bullet may well hit dhe survivors and te accumulation , fof deaths puts an end 10 the impression of ehanee, Life has, Indeed, become interesting again; it asrecoverd tefl content, iere a distinction should be made between two groupe those who themselves risk their lve im bate, and thote who have stayed at home and have only to wait forthe lis of one of ther dear ones by wounds elseage or infection. It would be ‘ost interesting, no doubt, to seudy the changes inthe psycho- logy of the combatans, but I now too Title about it. We tm THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH. ‘must restrict ourselves to the second group, to which we our- selves "belong, T have said already that im ray opinion the Devikderment and the paralysis of capacity, from which we sufer, are ewentaly determined among other things by the ‘Sircumstance that ve are unable to maintain our former atitade towards death, and have not yet found a new one. Temay asst ‘eto do this if we dnect our paychologieal enquiry towards two ther relations to death-—the one which we may ascribe 10 rimaeval, prehistoric men, and the ome which sill exist in very one of us, but which conceals Hue inisbe to conscious nes inthe deeper stata of our mental life. ‘Wat the atdtude of preistorie man was towards death is ofcourse, only known tous by inferences and constructions, but aleve tat there methods have Furnished with fly taste ‘worthy conclsions Primaeval man took up a very remarkable attiude towards Aesth, Te wae far fom consistent; ie was indeed most cone ttadictory. Oa the one hand, he took death aerouly, recogaized fea the termination of ie aad made use oft in that seme; on the other hand, be also denied death and reduced i o nothing "This contradiction arse from the fact date took wp radically diferent attitudes towards the death of other people, of strangers of enemies, and towards his wn, He had no objection {osomeonece’s dead meant te anaihilato ofsomeone he hated, and priv man had ao scples against bringing it shout. He was no doubt s very petionate creature and more cruel and more malignant than other animals, He liked to kil, fad killed at's matter of course. The lasinct which isd to Festrsin other animals from Isling and devouring their own species need no be atibuted to hi. Hence the primaeval history of mankind is fled with murder. Even to-day, the history of the world which our flildzen Ieara at school Se esentially 4 serien of murdest of| peoples. The obscure sense of gilt ca which mankind has been subject nce prehistoric times, and which in some religions has bem condensed into the doctrine of primal guilt of rina in, iS probably the outcome of bood.riltincured by preston rman. In my book Tot aad Talo (1912-13) T have, fllowing ‘clues given by Roberson Smith, Atkinson and Charles Darwin, tad fo quet the nature ofthis primal guilt and Tbeieve, ton, that the Christian doctrine of today enables us to deduce it TP i) OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEATH ate the Son of God was obliged to sacrifice hie Hite ta wedoven mane id from original sn, chen bythe law of tli, the requtal of [ke by lke that sin most have been killing, under, Nothing tbe could call for the sacrifice of Ife for ite expiaton, And the orginal sin was an offence against God the Father, the primal crime of mankind must have been s parscide, the kliag fof the primal father of the primitive human horde, whore Immemic image was later transhgurel ino a deity." “His own death as certainly just as unimaginable and unreal for primaeval man asitis br any one of ur t-day, But there was for him one cage in which the two opposite atitndes towards death collided and eame into confiet with eachother} and thi cease became highly important and productive of far-reaching consequences. Ie occured when peimaeval man saw someone ‘who belonged to him die—his wif, his child, his fiend—whom Ihe undoubtedly loved as we love ours, for love cannot be much younger than the lst il. Then in his pain, he was forced to fear that one can dic, 00, ones, and his whole being revolted against the admision foreach of thes loved ones was, After all, part of his own beloved ef. But om the ther hand, ‘deuts such 28 these pleased him sa well, ince in each of the Tove persons there was alo something of the stranger. Tae Iswr fof ambivalence of fling, which to thie day governs out ‘ermovional relations with thse whom we love most, certainly hha a very much wider validity in primaeval dimes. Thus thee beloved dead had alka been enemies and strangers who had oused in him some degree of hose felng.* Philosophers have declared that the intelectual enigma pres sented to primacval man by the picture of death fored him to tollecon, and thus became the eating pat ofall speculation T belive that here the philosopher are thinking too philoc sophically, ane giving too litle consideration to che motives that ‘were primuily operative. I should like therefore to kant and , correct their asertion. In my view, primaeval man mutt have tsiumnphed beside the body of his slnia enemy, without being Jed to rack his brains about the enigma of ie and death. What released the spirit ofenguity in man wos aot the intellectual enigin, and not every death, but the confct of feting at the death of loved yet alien and hated pesos. OF this conde of 2 Gt ton and Tay, Bay LV (Sander Bd, 13, 146) Ibid, aay Tf (Sourd Ba, 18,00). 20) THOUGHTS ON WAR AND DEATH feling onyhology was the fit offing. Man could no longer [ep death ats ltt, fore ad tas it ss pn about the dead; bat he was neverieletsuiling to acknowiedge for e edu not consive of hima ar dead, Soe devised & compromise: he concede the facto it own death wel at

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