Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Aristotle’s Sublunary Substance and the Unmoved Mover
Sublunary substance refers to the region from the Moon downwards. It consists of a substance that degenerates and wears. Everything is born and dies. With respect to change, in this case, it would be chaotic; things go up, down, colliding, etc. This chaos causes everything to degenerate, to be born and die. To explain the change, Aristotle uses the theory of natural places, based on what Empedocles of Agrigento, a Presocratic philosopher, said. According to him, reality is composed of four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Mixing percentages of each other would form reality. This theory explains how and why things move here. Each substance, by nature, tends to go with its substance; water tends to go with water, air with air, etc. Therefore, for this reason, when you throw a stone, it falls. The universe is finite because it has limits. It is still but moves. According to Aristotle, the world is the shift from potentiality to actuality. All things are in action but are themselves potentially in a finality. Everything here is perfectly intertwined: potentiality-actuality, potentiality-actuality… but this process is not infinite; it must have a beginning, which he calls the Unmoved Mover, which moves and is not moved by anyone. Aristotle’s physics is closely related to metaphysics. A substance consists of: substance, matter, form, potentiality, and actuality. The Unmoved Mover is a substance but without accidents or matter. It would be form but not matter, it would be pure actuality. This special substance is full perfection without the possibility of being more perfect. Aristotle calls this mover God, not because it creates the universe, but only because it is the Unmoved Mover.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Id, Ego, and Superego
The Id
The Id is the most important part of the mind in infancy. This is the innermost and most primitive part of my mind. Here is where all that is innate and all that has been repressed by consciousness resides. From this came drives that are repressed energies of the consciousness of a young individual. In a young child, the Id is abundant. Eventually, the whole of society influences; this process is called socialization. At first, the child does not understand anything, as it has not developed the external sense; in short, it is a person who sees everything as normal and natural. This process is very hard because it is natural that the people around you do not see it that way. Thus, for all things, there is continuing frustration. This frustration is maximized at about 5 years old. All this frustrates you; these are actions that produce energy, which Freud called drives. The defense mechanism that my mind has is that all this energy that does a lot of damage to the conscious part represses the Id. Society offers me something I do not want, me to repress, thereby accumulating this frustration, causing a time to come when I do what I really want, which are the innate things. All those desires reside in the Id; it is wishful thinking. The Id is the unconscious part trying to emerge in the conscious. It does so through mechanisms of our mind. This is done through slips and dreams.
Interpretation of Dreams
In dreams, what comes from the unconscious to the conscious is something that worries me, that happened to me. In dreams, I vent about the situations. In dreams, children feel more free. In children, the Id is 90% of the mind; therefore, they seek what they desire. Since children have nothing to lose, they can do whatever they want, desires that are in the Id. In contrast, adults cannot. They are deep desires, those of my essence. The motivation that lies in the Id is the libido.
The Superego
The Superego is the third part of my mind. Around 4 years old, in the psychic world, the Oedipus complex and Electra complex are produced. The differences between a man and a woman are many, but not only physical. There are also differences in the way they look, hair, etc. All that influences my personality; that is sexuality. Everything has a cause; the cause of everything is what Freud called the libido or sexual desire. The libido is what moves all psychology. Love is not the libido but is based on free will. The libido is Eros, erotic love. The danger of this love is to make the other person into an object because I use it as needed. Keep in mind that the libido is manifested in different ways throughout life.
The Oedipus Complex
A boy falls for his mother. He hates his father because he is seen as a rival. In a second, he fears possible retaliation from his father and identifies with him. This takes place in the unconscious part; in this, the child is the only thing that knows sexuality. How a man has to behave in society depends on the development of the Oedipus complex. Sexuality is not innate but learned. In this age, we learn by imitation of our father. We call this intelligence.
Castration
Castration is the reason that the child identifies with his father. In childhood, we are a replica of our parents; that is why adolescence is necessary because we start to grieve for ourselves and begin to build our lives. Society attributes a role to us depending on our sexuality. This role is changing today for the better. This role that society gives is a lie; it is true that it has been mostly, but not always. Freud’s thesis is that the alleged superiority of men to women is given by this stage of life.
The Phallus
The Phallus is the location of the body where the child sees that the libido develops. A child sees that the phallus is the pleasure center and sees it as a matter of course without prejudice because it has not entered society. The phallus becomes the most precious thing in the Id. The child is afraid that his father will punish him for that hypothetical damage that the child makes. The form of punishment is castration. This fear is to identify with him and begins to develop sexuality. Freud speaks of the father figure as a figure of punishment, giving fear. When you get older, my father did not give fear. The authority principle is respected in the psychic. When the child accepts the authority of the father is when you see the inside of that superego and superego moral consciousness. Consciousness is what we say is right and wrong. There is the ideal, what I want to walk, also located within the superego. The engine of psychology, what drives this whole process, so that the three parties work, to function properly, are a number of principles:
- Pleasure principle: We tend to choose things we like and avoid those who hurt us.
- Energy balance: Psychologically, we remain calm, balanced, and run away from problems because problems unbalance us.
Defense Mechanisms
- Repression: The self is freed from this conflict by putting it in the Id, the unconscious.
- Projection: Attributing to another person or thing what produces an imbalance in us. One of the ways in which my mind is rid of a drive is to take it and project it onto another. Attributing to others what I think is bad for me.
- Rationalization: Justifying in front of myself and in front of others what I know rationally that hurts me. I do not recognize one thing I’ve done just because it hurts, so I convince myself and relax. It is ultimately rational arguments to ease my conscience.
- Denial: I deny that obvious damage occurs in the ego. All these aspects are evident; I know them, but I deny them because they hurt me. When I find a flaw in myself, instead of trying to fix it, I deny it.