Sigmund Freud

After 70 years of his death, there are many who see Freud's theories and thoughts very unique and different, but way beyond human understanding. During his time, people said he was a Jewish pervert, but in today society we see him as a great man, whose mind was above many for his time.

In the film we watched in the class, it talked about Freud's idea about the unconscious mind and drives we have, that we don't realize as humans. There is no way to prove this, but if we look back at WWI and WWII it may make some sense that there are certain things in the human mind that make us drive to certain things in certain ways. Our unconscious mind is what makes us human today.

Freud focus also a lot on dreams and that there were hidden symbols, but this can go back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greek, Rome, and even to the Native Americans in the Americas. Their shamans and priest could interpret dreams and in the bible it talks about Joseph who is known as the King of Dreams for predicting the 7 year of a great harvest, followed by a 7 year of great famine in Egypt. Also in the bible, the Egyptian priest were able to interpret a Pharaoh's dream about the coming of Moses. So the idea that dreams have hidden meanings has been around for many years.

Freud is still matters today because we look at his ideas and use them in today's society such as talking treatment which is mainly used in therapy sessions with patients. His knowledge was so great to many people, that it's really something to look into and try to understand.

Today in 2010, if Freud was alive, I think he would have to change some of his ideas due to gay marriages and single parenting along with adoption. His idea of Oedipus complex would have to change due to children growing up in different households and that maybe people's thoughts today might be different from people's thoughts from the past.