Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) by Sigmund Freud

When

I read this during my doctoral studies.

Why

It was assigned for a class and/or reading seminar.

How

Like Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, Freud’s approach to morality, while not constructivist, is useful for a class like Perspectives on Moral Development that compares different psychological approaches to moral understanding. Particularly, his view of the child’s development of moral understanding and its subsequent implications for the individual-society relationship provides much material from which various morality/moral development theorists can be compared and critiqued. Also, like Skinner, Freud’s ideas were influential in the early formulations of socialization approaches to moral understanding. One of the things I enjoy in my moral development class is prompting students to view Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) through a Freudian lens. Three particularly illustrative opportunities for such discussions are his interrogation scene, his scene with Harvey Dent, and his experiment with the two ferries.

In a recent guest lecture, I explored the extent this portrayal may point to any kind of coherent moral view.