According to Freud, what were the three great shocks in history that were delivered to the collective human ego?
Freud (1917) had suggested that in all the recorded history, there are three great shocks that delivers to the collective human ego. The three shocks are listed below.
1. The first shock was when the Polish astronomer, Copernicus (1473-1543), showed to the world that the center of the universe is not the earth. He proclaimed that the earth is just one among the many other planets that revolves around the sun.
2. The second shock came from a revelation from Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century. He demonstrated that we “human beings” are not as unique as we think, and we are not a separate species that have a privileged place in creation. However, we are another species, that is a higher form of the animal species that got evolved from other lower forms of the animal life.
3. The third shock was administered by Freud. He proclaimed that the human beings do not rationally rule their own lives. They are influenced by some sort of unconscious forces, that the human beings are not aware of. Also, they have little or no control of the unconscious forces at all.