Author: Olivia Furness

Sigmund Freud was a psychologist, theorist, and one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.  He proposed many experiments and ideas about development of the human mentally and physically. Freud uses some words in his dialogue that need to be understood to grasp what he is truly trying to convey. The first word is repression, the mind’s effort to keep thoughts and impulses out of the forefront of thought by pushing them into the subconscious. Freud believes that this happens without us being aware of it, why certain thoughts and memories are hidden because they could be hurtful to us mentally. This process is sometimes helpful and sometimes harmful. The next term is sublimation, another defense mechanism that is more adaptive. It is like an outlet for the emotion/impulse that keeps problems from occurring. For example, an aggressive person will pick up sports to let out their frustration in a healthy manner. Neurosis is another term that Freud uses. He defines it to mean manifestations of anxiety that are expressed subconsciously. There can be some outward physical symptoms as well. Now, we just classify neurosis into specific disorders, such as anxiety, OCD, depression, personality disorders, etc. Psychosis is the last of the terms, a severe psychological disorder where the ego is carried away by the id and the person is detached from reality. Disorders like this are known usually in terms of schizophrenia and other extreme cases. These terms are ones that Freud uses and discovered in his research, and it is helpful to know the background when reading his findings.

Sigmund Freud, a psychologist in the 20th century, published his views about sexuality and children. He coined different phases that a human will go through as they develop. According to Freud, each stage has to be resolved before the next one starts. If someone gets stuck in a stage, they could have developmental problems later in life. The first stage is oral, occurring from birth to one year; where the infant fixates on their mouth by biting, sucking, breastfeeding, etc. This can sometimes come up later in life as people who bite their nails or smoke. The second phase is anal, where from one to three years a child is very impressionable on potty training. The way you are trained also develops some of people’s later relationships with authority. The phallic stage is next, when children are three to six years old. This is the Oedipus complex, where sons are attracted to their mom and daughters are attracted to their father. This is resolved through identification, and this phase is also where the concentration on the genital areas appears. Freud goes into other stages such as latency and genital, but those are for puberty and  doesn’t so much concern a child. As it can be seen, Freud brought some revolutionary thought into his time. All of his findings were experimental, and came with a lot of controversy.

Group 6

In looking at how Locke’s Treatise is still in circulation today, an article was found about the Ferguson case. About the issue in discussion, Michael Brown was a black teen that was shot dead by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Racial protests and injustice screams were heard around the states. The author of this article, Ta-Nehisi Coates, brings up a quote from Locke’s Treatise to help prove his point about how Wilson got off on a lesser punishment than an ordinary citizen would have received. The part quoted was in Chapter XVI, Section 176:

“The injury and the crime is equal, whether committed by the wearer of a crown, or some petty villain. The title of the offender, and the number of his followers, make no difference in the offence, unless it be to aggravate it. The only difference is, great robbers punish little ones, to keep them in their obedience; but the great ones are rewarded with laurels and triumphs, because they are too big for the weak hands of justice in this world, and have the power in their own possession, which should punish offenders. What is my remedy against a robber, that so broke into my house?”

In this context, the Ferguson’s trial outcome violated Locke’s way of thinking. Locke says that the title of the offender should make no difference, yet Coates is arguing that in this case it did. There is an absence of justice that is occurring in Ferguson. Coates agrees with Locke, and says that the government needs to put as much pressure on the law enforces as they do the law followers.

Locke also states in his Treatise that if  justice is denied, appeals should be made. His feelings that no one should be exempt from the law and that people need to be brought to justice so that everyone else can feel protected of their lives and property apply to this situation. If everyone was to go free like Wilson, it would be a disgrace to the government that Locke was trying to establish.