the superego. It originates from the long dependency of the infant on his parents; the parental influence remains the core of the superego. Subsequently, a number of societal and cultural influences are taken in by the superego until it coagulates into the powerful representative of established morality and “what people call the ‘higher‘ things in human life.”

According to Freud, the history of man is the history of his repression. Culture constrains not only his societal but also his biological existence, not only parts of the human being but his instinctual structure itself. However, such constraint is the very precondition of progress.

“Instinct,” in accordance with Freud‘s notion of Trieb, refers to primary “drives” of the human organism which are subject to historical modification; they find mental as well as somatic representation.

“Di quante cose sostanziali, minutissime, inimmaginabili ha bisogno la nostra invenzione per ridiventare quella stessa realtà da cui fu tratta, di quante fila che la riallaccino nel complicatissimo intrico della vita, fila che noi abbiamo recise per farla diventare una cosa a sé”