Who Were Benjamin Franklin And Sigmund Freud?

Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790): American Statesman scientist and writer. Disillusioned with British rule in America, he helped to draft the "Declaration of independence" (1776). He was ambassador to France (1776-85) and took part in the peace negotiations (1781-3) at the end of the war of American independence. He gained a worldwide reputation for his scientific work, which included a new theory of the nature of electricity, and for his inventions, which include the lighting conductor.

Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939): Austrian Psychiatrist, founder of psycho-analysis. Studying under J.M. Charcot, Paris (1885-6) and in collaboration with Josef Breuer, Vienna, Freud used hypnosis in the treatment of hysterics. He abandoned this for a method of free association and dream analysis which he called psycho-analysis. At first, he placed great emphasis on the role of the unconscious in personality development and discovered the importance of infantile sexuality and the Oedipus complex.

Main work of the period are "The psycho-pathology of everyday life" (1904); and "Three contributions to the sexual theory" (1905). In "Beyond the pleasure Principle" (1920), Freud outlined the two dominant principles of the mind as pleasure pain complex and the repression compulsion complex, an instinctive drive of the organism to return to previous states. "The Ego and the Id" (1923), his last work on psychoanalysis, outlined a new theory of the ego, in which he showed the ego and the superego, to be in constant tension.

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