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durusacinti's review against another edition
Interesting, but his arrogance made the narration unbearable at last.
sreymey's review against another edition
3.0
Freud provides a theoretical framework for understanding the unconscious mind, which includes concepts such as the id, ego, and superego. The id is the primitive, irrational part of the mind that is driven by impulsive desires. The ego is the part of the mind that mediates between the id and the outside world, serving as a realistic and practical component. The superego represents the ethical standards and ideals that are internalised from society, and it serves as a moral guide for the ego. These concepts provide a foundation for understanding the dynamics of the unconscious mind, and the role it plays in shaping our dreams.
dukegregory's review
3.0
Written more like a memoiristic novel than a scientific paper, pretty ridiculous at times, constantly self-editing, this book really does the most. It's very entertaining in its examinations, and it's wild to see how much our contemporary dialogue around dreams really does stem from this one book. It's also strange to actually see the origin of the Oedipal complex. It's way too long though, but my boredom is probably more a fault of my reading it significantly after the book's ideas have found their way into the framework of our culture. Oh well.
Some notes I don't want to lose:
Dreams happen in the mind; they are "psychical acts" just as important as other psychical acts.
All dreams are motivated by the desire to fulfill one or more wishes.
The dream's form is shaped by four factors:
a) Displacement: the need to evade censorship.
b) Considerations of representability: the dream-work's preference for representing thoughts as images.
c) Condensation: the need to reduce numerous thoughts down into a few images.
d) Secondary revision: a demand the dream be easy to understand.
Freud offers three possible sources for the wishes fulfilled in dreams:
1. A wish that came up during the day but could not be satisfied "for external reasons." (For example, a child wanted candy but a parent forbade it.)
2. A wish that came up during the day but was repressed.
3. A wish with "no connection to daytime life" that emerges in the "suppressed part of the mind."
Five kinds of "thought-impulses that persist in sleep":
1. Something unfinished in the day because of some external blockage.
2. Something not dealt with because of an internal lack, such as a mental problem the dreamer failed to solve.
3. Something "rejected and suppressed during daytime."
4. Something in the unconscious set in motion by the events of the day.
5. Something not dealt with during the day because it is trivial.
In punishment dreams, there are two conflicting wishes. The first is an unconscious, repressed wish. The second is a conscious wish to be punished for fulfilling the first wish.
Are people responsible for their dreams? Readers might wonder if unconscious wishes can lead to "other things" besides dreams. He then says a certain Roman emperor was wrong to convict a man who had dreamed of killing the emperor. Freud gives two different reasons why the emperor was wrong. A dream is not an act, as many before Freud have said. The second reason is more important for Freud: a dream about an emperor is seldom about the emperor. Freud concludes his look at the ethics of dreams by saying dreams at least give us a view of the underside of ourselves—"the much trampled soil from which our virtue springs."
Some notes I don't want to lose:
Dreams happen in the mind; they are "psychical acts" just as important as other psychical acts.
All dreams are motivated by the desire to fulfill one or more wishes.
The dream's form is shaped by four factors:
a) Displacement: the need to evade censorship.
b) Considerations of representability: the dream-work's preference for representing thoughts as images.
c) Condensation: the need to reduce numerous thoughts down into a few images.
d) Secondary revision: a demand the dream be easy to understand.
Freud offers three possible sources for the wishes fulfilled in dreams:
1. A wish that came up during the day but could not be satisfied "for external reasons." (For example, a child wanted candy but a parent forbade it.)
2. A wish that came up during the day but was repressed.
3. A wish with "no connection to daytime life" that emerges in the "suppressed part of the mind."
Five kinds of "thought-impulses that persist in sleep":
1. Something unfinished in the day because of some external blockage.
2. Something not dealt with because of an internal lack, such as a mental problem the dreamer failed to solve.
3. Something "rejected and suppressed during daytime."
4. Something in the unconscious set in motion by the events of the day.
5. Something not dealt with during the day because it is trivial.
In punishment dreams, there are two conflicting wishes. The first is an unconscious, repressed wish. The second is a conscious wish to be punished for fulfilling the first wish.
Are people responsible for their dreams? Readers might wonder if unconscious wishes can lead to "other things" besides dreams. He then says a certain Roman emperor was wrong to convict a man who had dreamed of killing the emperor. Freud gives two different reasons why the emperor was wrong. A dream is not an act, as many before Freud have said. The second reason is more important for Freud: a dream about an emperor is seldom about the emperor. Freud concludes his look at the ethics of dreams by saying dreams at least give us a view of the underside of ourselves—"the much trampled soil from which our virtue springs."