My HSC English tutor, Rory Waldron-Glyde delved deep into philosophy. At the time, it sounded like an unexplored world, too complex to understand and tie into my understanding of HSC Advanced English. But it did plant a seed.
The seed grew into my own journey and passion to use HSC English to give a voice to high school students. Through their studies of many texts, whether it be Shakespeare or a modern hip hop song, Rory had taught me indirectly, to appreciate the power of the English language: an expression of art, to communicate and to connect with the world around us. Although I wasn't the exemplar student, skimming through his recommended texts, concepts and regurgitating only what I deemed sound good in my naive 18 year old self.
Interestingly, two philosophers stood out and this seed that was planted worked its way around through the ways of life to today. I decided to look into Michel Foucault and Sigmund Freud more in depth. As I look back, I'm reminded when I felt pretentious, name dropping them in my HSC assessments. Simplification and owning my understanding of these two was my goal today.
Freud's exploration of the id, ego and superego.
Id: Our raw self, that of a child. Our most biological needs such as food, water, desires to reproduce.
Ego: Our socially constructed self. As we gain experiences on TOP of the 'Id', we begin to become formed by our environment. Ironically, to understand the ego, we must try to remove the ego and I believe part of this process is what Freud refers to as the superego.
Superego: An intermediary of the 'Id' and 'Ego', our way to try to create morality, what's right and wrong. The superego seems to be influence our ego, based on our 'Id'.
I've put what ChatGPT describes id, ego and superego below.
Iddy (Id): Iddy is like the little voice in your head that wants things right now. It's like when you really, really want a cookie and you don't care if it's not time for a snack. Iddy doesn't think about rules or what's right or wrong – it just wants what it wants at that moment.
Eddy (Ego): Eddy is the one who thinks about what's sensible and fair. If you really want a cookie, Eddy might say, "Hmm, I want that cookie too, but let's wait until snack time. It's better to follow the rules." Eddy tries to find a balance between what you want and what's reasonable.
Super Sam (Superego): Super Sam is like your inner superhero. He cares a lot about what's right and wrong, even more than what you want. Super Sam might say, "Cookies are delicious, but we should follow the rules and wait. Plus, too many cookies aren't good for us." Super Sam wants you to do what's best for yourself and others.
Foucault's exploration of power.
Power isn't what we often may view it as. In 2023, we may view power as a corrupt government or a bad boss or even a strict parent. Power is more of a measurement. James Cussen from the Living Philosophy offers a concise, easy-to-follow podcast, blogs and videos on Foucault and many other points of interest in philosophy. Cussen describes power as the same way of measurement as that of gravity. "Gravity is a part of the physical world, while power is a part of the social world." Power is intention, and it is not subjective.
What power does is, it shapes and guides us. Power is a constant state. Foucault describes power as a perpetual battle/struggle which depends on everything acting with/on/against one another (force relations).
Power tries to be structured through things like rules at school, rules in sport, government policies and laws. Power should be viewed as inherent and never 'crystalised'.
I like this portrayal so far as I believe that life is always forever changing. All we can try to control is our minds and our actions. We are a tiny cog in a huge organic mechanism. Nothing is permanent. To tie Foucault and Freud together in my own experiences, misconstruing power is what makes our ego inflated. The superego, which can be similar to discipline (to me), is the elimination of the ego as trying to see what life is in its rawest, organic sense. Illnesses, conflicts, wins, they are all the same, natural, inherent part of life. Inner peace: the acceptance of all that was, is and will be. There are no shortcuts except to keep going.
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