Donald Abel

Despite his low opinion of the philosophical enterprise and his attempt to avoid value questions, Freud does in fact develop a moral philosophy. Although he does not propose a moral theory as such, there is a moral theory implicit in his theory of human nature. According to Freud, instincts constitute the core of human nature, and one should try to satisfy one's instincts as fully as possible--taking into account the many forms these instinctual impulses can assume. An instinct exerts pressure on the mind to get a person to act in such a way as to reduce inner tension, and thereby experience pleasure. Pleasure always comes through tension reduction. Freud's views on instincts changed over the years, most notably with his postulation of the death instinct in 1920. But except for this problematic death instinct, Freud's views on instincts all imply a theory of individualistic hedonism: all pleasure, and only pleasure, is intrinsically good; pleasures differ only in quantity, not in quality; an individual should maximize his or her own pleasure ; there are certain fundamental conflicts between an individual and society. Both hedonism and individualism can be criticized from the standpoint of Aristotle's moral philosophy. If Aristotle is right that pleasure is the completion of activity, and that human beings are essentially social, Freud's moral theory cannot stand.

This ambitious book examines the conceptions of the human subject held by numerous Western thinkers from various disciplines. The study begins with Descartes and ends with Derrida. For the forty-six principal authors covered, Morris gives a brief biography, an overview of the author's thought in its historical context, an analysis of the author's theory of the human individual as presented in a major work, and a critique of that theory. Writers in addition to these forty-six are also discussed, but in less detail. As is not surprising in a work that spans the fields of philosophy, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and sociobiology, the expositions and critiques rely considerably on secondary sources.