Short Paper one

1. Why is it so difficult to love ones neighbor as ones self? A neighbor to most people especially today is someone you have very little contact with outside of saying hi to one another every once in a while. The word love means so much to people and for most they won’t say it unless they really mean it. Like Freud says how can we love someone we barley know? We do so much for the people we love and to classify perfect strangers as being loved by us feels strange and out of place. As humans we need to have a bond with someone in order to be able to truly feel love for them. With a neighbor we don’t really have that bond so we find it hard to love them as we love ourselves. I don’t think the statement love they neighbor as ones self really means you have to love them as you do family and friends. It simply means show them respect and be kind to them treat them as you would want them to treat you. Even if your neighbor is someone who treats you wrong show them that you will be kind and lead by example.

2. Why is this commandment a necessary requirement of civilized society? The commandment to love ones neighbor as oneself is set forth to help maintain society and keep mankind under control. When I say keeping mankind under control I simply mean that by having this commandment we set forth morals for everyone to live by. A moral is a distinction between right and wrong that most people tend to acknowledge. With this commandment we show people a way to treat others and that keeps society from going crazy. If we did not have this commandment I believe our world would be in even more of a mess then it is now. No one would have any regard for anyone else and it would be like wild animals fighting over food and territory and what ever else they thought was worth fighting over. Even with this commandment we still have a lot of horrible things going on in the world but in the mix of it a lot of people still come together to help each other out and without this commandment that would have not been seen.

3. What is human nature like according to Freud? Freud thinks that all humans are naturally aggressive and that makes humans do things before they have had a chance to really think them out. They get defensive and may resort to violence when the problem could have been worked out with milder measures. Freud says “this aggression reveals men as a savage beast to whom consideration towards his own kind is something alien.”(691)

4. What specific historical events and developments might be explained by Freud’s theory of aggression? In this article Freud points out the world war, the invasions of the Huns, and the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders all of witch explain Freud’s theory. I would like to point out an even more recent event though one we can all relate to and remember well. The attack on the World Trade Centers. This event was planed out and put into action by very angry and upset human beings. They are people just like you and I who let there anger and hostility get the best of them. They lashed out without thinking of what would happen after this was done and let there aggression take hold. If they or the United States would have been following this commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves then maybe we would not be in this war right now and we may even have a little peace in the world. I think we all need to learn to let go of our aggression and see that no matter your color religion or where you live we are all just human beings trying to figure out how to live a life. No one is better then anyone else, we all have the same standing in the world.