Lord of the Flies, Freud, and Ethics

Kristyn, this is powerful.  Thank you for sharing your personal stories.  You clearly know how to relate course theory to real life and practical application.  William Golding wrote a book called "Lord of the Flies."  It has also become a movie, which is worth watching."  The Bible refers to Satan as "Lord of the flies," with reference to the flies that feed off dead things.  In short, it is Lord of Death.  The story illustrates how precarious civilized life is, for underneath lurks the primordial urges of an animal nature.  This is not a pleasant view of humanity; it has merit.  We are surprised when people are cruel; Golding would say we ought not to be, for given free hand, humans tend to revert to animal-like killer behaviors.  This is why we have governments - to hold such impulses in check.  Sigmund Freud termed it this way.  In our subconscious he argues are two forces.  One is eros, or love of life.  The second is thanatos, or love of death.  Freud argued that eros and thanatos are in battle for our personalities.  To help eros win, we need the help of what Freud calls the "Super Ego," civilized rules, values, law and order.  If we dissolve the "Super Ego" forces we open the door for the "Lord of the Flies."  This may help you to better understand the sad actions you encounter, in fact, all of us encounter from time to time.  May it be just time to time, not routinely. Dr. Rux