Introduction
Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in the Czech Republic but in his lifetime he stayed in various countries including Austria, Germany, and Britain. He later died in Britain in the year 1939. Freud is well known and widely accredited for his Psychoanalytic theory that has greatly impacted modern-day fields of philosophy, psychology, and medicine.
Main body
In his psychoanalytic theory, Freud is more concerned with his obsessions. His psychoanalytic theory is very much informed by the way he was brought up in his early childhood life. In his theory, he gives insight into the unconscious and tries to define and describe defense mechanisms. Because of his early way of life he developed his defense mechanisms and anxiety that led him to seek answers on exactly what the unconscious was and its role in human existence. In a way, he was able to make an impact on human wisdom. Freud recognized the power of the unconscious on the human personality. His theory relates almost every human experience to sexual desires or motives. For instance, he relates every spiritual aspiration to sexual desires. (Zip Dobyns 1979). This theory of psychoanalysis although has influenced modern life it was extremely subjective because he based his theory on his childhood traumas. Freud came up with the German notionâWeltanschauungâ which can be simply translated into I am afraid. From this notion, Freud explained that whether man realizes it or not he possesses a world view and that we all have a philosophy of life that is our effort to try to make sense out of our existence.
To Sartre, the âIâ which is the person is always brought into the world or rather the universe without any prearranged qualities which is to human nature. The world to this individual is just nothingness. To Sartre therefore, there is no external figure that gives life any meaning. He says that an individual chooses for he is free and responsible. The individual chooses with no guarantee that he has a long-lasting identity or power. It is in the moment of death when a human through his conscious comes to realize his real existence. Sartre is the major proponent of existentialism. To Sartre Existence precedes Essence. Existence is simply the presence of something, while essence is the nature of the thing. The man simply put is his acts put together, for man exists to fulfill his plans or acts.
Kierkegaard lived from 1813 to 1855. Just like Sartre, he talks about existence. His main concern in all his workings was to give a representation of what it means for a person to exist. Just like Freud, his philosophy is to a large extent is personal. Solutions to problems in life are only found through the act of will or choice. About Scientific knowledge, Kierkegaardâs argued that scientific analysis was unsuitable for acquiring and understanding human experience. He says that truth is subjective; he gives this subjective truth three main characteristics. First, is that it is paradoxical, concrete, and lastly above all not collective. When it comes to religion or God Kierkegaard points out that a commitment of faith is a risk taken but cannot be resolvable through reason or sensation. To him, faith in God is the highest standpoint in life. Kierkegaard viewed life in levels of existence or to what he referred to as the dialectic of the stages, which simply is the process whereby the spirit is actualized in the form of individuality. To pass from one stage to the next in life he believed that one can only achieve it through the act of will, choice, or simply leap of faith.
Conclusion
Although I find Kierkegaard persuasive, I do not agree with him that truth is entirely subjective. Truth can partly be subjective and partly objective. In scientific methodology research and analysis I take truth as objective but in matters concerning religion truth is purely subjective as it entirely depends on personal opinion.
References
Armand Nicholi.when Worldviews Collide: Part one 2004. Web.
Donald L. Carveth. Sigmund Freud Today: What Are His Enduring Contributions? 2006. Web.
Jean-Paul Sartre: Knowledge Products (Giants of Philosophy) 2008. Web.
Nigel Rapport. The truth is alive’: Kierkegaard’s anthropology of dualism, subjectivity and somatic knowledge. 2002. Web.
Philosophy 102: Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry Sartre, “Existential Ethics”. 2008. Web.
Søren Kierkegaard, “Truth as Subjectivity” 2008. Web.
Zip Dobyns. Sigmund Freud. 1979. 2009. Web.