Freud's Personality Theory & Ethics Concepts

Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego Theory

In 1920, Freud conducted a comprehensive review of his theory, replacing the first draft of the human personality with a more developed one, called the second topography. In this second topography, three key regions or systems appear: the Id, Ego, and Superego.

The Id: Instincts and Energy

The Id is roughly equivalent to the region previously called the psychic unconscious, containing repressed contents not absorbed by the conscious subject. But Freud is now more precise. It is the seat of the instincts, the energy source that drives all our desires. Freud emphasized two basic types of instincts in man.

The Ego: Reality and Mediation

The Ego corresponds more or less to the conscious part of the first topography. The Ego is the instance of the personality in contact with the outside world and reality, acting as a mediator between the Id and reality. The principle governing the Ego is the reality principle. The Ego is responsible for perceiving reality, reasoning, knowing, discriminating, and acting. Its primary function is to enable the real satisfaction of our desires. Its ability to reason and its accurate perception of reality are the only things that can help remove or reduce the tension arising from our deepest instincts and desires, freeing up psychic energy. Mental disorders, in the case of neurosis, arise when the Ego is evading its responsibility and the personality is dominated by the Id.

The Superego: Morality and Conscience

The Superego is a psychic instance that is a novelty compared with the first topography. It is the moral code of the person. While the Id creates the desire and the Ego is able to perceive the real object that satisfies that desire, the Superego, through its moral code, dictates whether that action is appropriate or not. This moral code is formed through the child's assimilation of the norms of their parents and society in general. Freud distinguished between two subsystems in the Superego: the Ideal of Self and Conscience. The Ideal of Self is the conception that the child has of what their parents approve; Conscience is what the parents and society consider morally wrong. Fundamental to this education are the parents, with their prizes and punishments, through which we assimilate the Ideal of Self and Conscience. The function of the Superego is to maintain the activity of the Ego within the rules set by society, for which it uses guilt or pride.

Understanding Moral Relativism

Moral relativism is the doctrine that asserts the impossibility of absolute moral truths existing. It posits that all conceptions about good and evil arise in a particular context and circumstances that determine them. Therefore, no thing can be considered universally good or bad. What is considered good or bad always refers to the customs and traditions of a particular group, hence the impossibility of universally valid moral principles. The first philosophers who defended cultural relativism were the Sophists in Athens around the middle of the 5th century BC.

Aristotle on Ethics and Achieving Happiness

According to Aristotle, the ultimate goal of all human beings is happiness (eudaimonia). Happiness is achieved when everyone is happy doing the activity that is proper and natural to them. What distinguishes man from other beings is reason, intellectual activity. The most perfect form of happiness is nothing other than rational activity, the purely contemplative life. Happiness is possible by practicing rational activity, which is the pursuit of wisdom, that is, in the practice of philosophy. Aristotle says a contemplative life makes us like a god: self-sufficient and happy. However, man has needs and must act on the problems of everyday life. Hence, his ideal of happiness is difficult to achieve fully in practice.