Why Is It Difficult To Love One's Neighbor As Oneself

Submitted By Tml715
Words: 370
Pages: 2

Taylor Lepp
AP World History
Set: 1
Civilization and Its Discontents­Sigmund Freund 1. Why is it difficult to love one's neighbor as oneself?
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself... Why should we do it? What good will it do us? But, above an, how shall we achieve it? How can it be possible? My love is something valuable to me which I ought not to to throw away without reflection. It imposes duties on me for whose fulfillment I must be ready to make sacrifices."
This is saying that everyone wants their own kind of love so it's difficult if your neighbor wants a different type of love if you're supposed to love your neighbor as yourself.
2. Why is it so difficult to love one's neighbor as oneself?
"Again, I have to love him if he is my friend's son, since the pain my friend would feel if any harm came to him would be my pain too­I should have to share it."
If your friend is in pain then you will then you will also be in pain, therefore you should love your friend so as not to cause them pain.
3. What is human nature like, according to Freud?
"The element of truth behind all this, which people are so ready to disavow, is that men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among whose instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of aggressiveness."
This shows that humans aren't very loving in nature according to Sigmund Freud.
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