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David Moore

Jen Arland

ENG 120, section 4

October 18, 2018

A Summary of Sigmund Freud’s Thoughts for the Times on War and Death

In his essay “Thoughts for the Times on War and Death”, the claimed father of

psychology Sigmund Freud gives his opinion on the current situation. The year is 1912. The

countries of the world find themselves thrown into a war because of a web of hastily-made

alliances. Families are killing each other left and right. He states that it is incredible that after

centuries of pace and calm between civilized countries, that people could become so barbaric.

Things such as empathy and peace have never before been in so short a supply. He wonders how

people could live in such a manner, where essentially every nation has announced open hostility

on another country.

Freud states that the average person seems bewildered as to the events taking place

around them, as well they should. Many people were asking themselves how this level of

barbarism would even happen in civilized countries. Trust between countries had progressed so

far that countless people had permamently decided to join other nations. Freud believes the

answer to why this happened lies in the high moral standards required in civilized society. One

would suppose that the nation itself would adhere to said moral standards. In the past, a moral

compass has been the unifying thread keeping everything together, so to speak. People thought

that if a war would break out, it would simply be to establish superiority, that it would not
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interrupt ethical relations. Then the Great War that no one expected, happened. All of those

bonds between nations were, almost at once, cut and thrown away, like they never existed in the

first place. Freud notices that even though the nations of the world are engaged in one of the

fiercest wars possible, no one is speaking out, that humanity as a whole is simply following what

their respective nation tells them to do. This war’s origin is not fear, but quite simply, dread of

the community.

The author states that once a community fails to raise objections, the suppression of evil

passions also fails. This leaves the average person feeling despondent, that he has been

disillusioned. Freud thinks that there is one primary reason why: brutality shown by people and

countries who you would expect to never do such a thing. Freud explains just how a person

obtains supposed high morality. From a very young age, education and society has worked hard

at destroying people’s more primitive instincts, and replacing them with more civilized

tendancies. Rarely, if ever, does the system work perfectly. Freud believes that people are

seldom entirely good or bad, but rather, good in certain aspects and bad in others. This

transformation occurs in two sections, one learned throughout the course of life, the other innate

at birth. Human beings tend to attach more importance to the innate part than it deserves;

consequentially, we raise ourselves to a higher standard than what we deserve. Because of this,

the author shows that society is unconcerned for the motives of any given person, requiring only

that he act in an acceptable manner. Therefore, the majority of people who only act properly

because the community has forced him to, not because he has overcome his instincts. These

people are hypocrites in a sense, since they don’t act in a way that they want to act, even if they

are unaware of it themselves. And now that we understand the fact that they, and us, more

readily obey themselves and their own country than go against the grain, we will more accurately
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understand our own rationalizations, and be honest on all sides so that real development may

occur, both then and now.

Reflection

I believe that Freud brought up some very interesting points in this particular essay. For

instance, how society as a whole fails at removing evil influences, and to the contrary, may

encourage them. It answers many questions regarding the human condition, and very nicely sums

up this unprecedented fighting after centuries of relative peace. This infighting rocked every

nation on Earth to its very core. The fact that something as revolutionary as this, taking apart the

psychological reasoning behind the war, appeared over a hundred years ago, is incredible.

I like how Freud carefully breaks apart the various aspects of the mind, how the civilized

and primitive natures of man intertwine, leaving it all clear-cut in black and white. Fair

judgement such as this is rare. I also enjoyed his idea that our interests are simply a watered-

down version of our passions. There are a large number of people who are passionate about

music or a sport, but can’t because of lack of funds or time, and so it remains solely an interest.

That kind of untapped potential, in my opinion, is a complete waste. But to be perfectly honest, I

found his writing style quite wordy. It was fairly difficult to understand, but that also means he

says precisely what he wants to say, with very little room for interperetation.

So in conclusion, although Freud’s style leaves much to be desired, overall this was a

treat of an assay to read and review. Freud has insight into humanity that very few can hope to

surpass, and for good reason. Like any good psychological paper, it makes you look within

yourself and ask questions you otherwise wouldn’t have dared to ask. I’m glad I found this
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hidden gem while looking for an essay. It’s a bit difficult to read, but I can assure you, it is well

worth the effort.