Freud on Ethics: The Equivalence of Evolution of Morality in Individual and Species

The explanation made by Freud for the institution of morality and its relation with human psyche proceeded in two separate projects. At the first, it is described the establishment of moral sense in individual’s psyche, and at the second an explanation for its generation and continuity in human species is presented. This essay deals with the relation between these two. First, two description related to these projects are presented in which the possibility of comparison and criticizing them have been provided. The main claim of this essay which is itself an admitted Freud’s idea involved in an equivalence between two projects. It means that it is possible to establish a one-to-one equivalence between the foundational concepts and general mechanisms of moral institution. The place of this principle have not been determined in Freud’s thought; if it is a result of his discussion in that he presented separate arguments, or concerns with that as n axiom. Next, it is explained that this equivalence could be reduced into an equivalence between their two central concepts; The notion of moral judgment in its Aristotelian-Kantian sense, and the notion of Taboo in which anthropologists are concerned with. At the end, the similar and distinct aspects of these two concepts are discussed by which some critical considerations on Freud’s attitude toward moral institution have beed presented.