Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Superego, Supererogatory, Superliminal

Freud explains Morality as the functioning of the Superego, which internalizes social standards as a constraint on the pleasure-seeking impulses of the Id.  In other words, his concept of Morality is essentially similar to Kant's.  It, thus, also, is beset by some of the same weaknesses of the latter.  For example, it cannot account for Supererogatory action, which does not involve constraint, and cannot be the content of a general mandate.  Rather, the functioning of the Superego and the structure of Supererogatory action are inverses--the former internalizes society, while the latter externalizes the agent.  It is such entry into society, into a We, activated by Will, that can be characterized as Superliminal.

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