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Why do we need to work? Lessons from Sigmund Freud's philosophy of work
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This lecture notes discusses the key concepts of Freud's theory of instincts, with emphasis on his concept of work.
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Why do we need to work?Lessons from Sigmund Freud's philosophy of work
I’m sure that you are very familiar with the fact that with the advent of online
entrepreneurship which promises huge passive income, many people nowadays want to
escape the so-called 9-5 rat race. Indeed, it seems that people nowadays don’t like to
work anymore or, to put it bluntly, people have learned to unleash their instinct to avoid
work.
But do we really need to work? What will happen if people give in to the demand of
their instinct and don’t go to work?
Let us address these age-old questions using Sigmund Freud’s philosophy of work.
But first, who is Sigmund Freud?
Sigmund Freud was the founder of Psychoanalysis. He was born in Moravia but his
family moved to Vienna in 1860, where he lived until 1938 when the Anschluss, that is,
the incorporation of Austria into the Nazi Reich, obliged him to make a reluctant
departure for London.
An ambitious student, Freud graduated as a doctor of medicine in 1881, and his early
research and publications dealt with anatomy and psychology. In 1885-86, a modest
bursary from his medical faculty allowed him to spend six months in Paris, where he
studied at the Salpetriere hospital under Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-93), widely
regarded as the greatest neurologist of his day and sometimes described as the
“Napoleon of neuroses”.
Like many others, Freud was spellbound by Charcot’s ability to use hypnosis to
reproduce in his patients the physical symptoms of hysteria. On his return to Vienna,
Freud set up in private practice as a specialist in nervous disease. The rest of his career is
synonymous with the history of psychoanalysis.
Now, the key to understanding Freud’s philosophy of work is his theory of instincts.
Freud believes that progress in society begins with the systematic repression of the
primary instincts of the human person, namely, Eros and Thanatos. According to Freud,
the goal of Eros is the preservation of life, while that of Thanatos is the destruction of
life.
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