Sigmund Freud
Born May 6, 1856, Sigmund Freud of Moravia changed the world with his new ideas. He is now known as the “Father of Psychoanalysis.” His new findings were publicized during a time in Europe when everything was new so they were accepted slightly more easily. The century called for new ideas in politics, liberalism, nationalism, and more.
Freud was born and raised into a Jewish family. The Jewish people of Moravia were mainly considered part of the Austro-Hungarian ruling class instead of being Czech and spoke German (www.freudfile.org/). During the time of his growing up, Europe was growing more and more anti-Semitic. Although at one point, the Jewish population was almost equal under the law, imperialism caused some problems. The leaders trying to conquer Africa argued that whites were superior to others. This argument was applied to Jews as the Europeans mistook “Jewish” as a race of people called the Semites (www.ushmm.org/). These events caused many European Jews to feel ashamed of themselves, but only caused Freud to pursue his dreams.
Sigmund Freud attended the University of Vienna to study medicine under a Darwinist professor (social.jrank.org/). He also widely studied philosophy and humanities which lead to his passion for studying people and their behaviors. Psychoanalysis, which is a term Freud coined in 1896, quickly became his specialty (www.personalityresearch.org/). Although he did not invent the various theories of psychoanalysis, he was definitely responsible for making them popular.
His main concept was “conscious vs. unconscious.” The conscious mind consists of what one is constantly aware of at all times. For example, thoughts, fantasies, feelings, etc. This consciousness also leads to the preconscious, which are thoughts or memories that may not be currently on the mind but are readily available. Although these two parts of the mind seem the easiest to understand, Freud suggests they are the smallest parts of the mind...
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