WHAT'S EATING OUR SOCIETY?

Abstract

In this thesis I analyse the work of French philosopher Bernard Stiegler (1952) to gain an understanding of the seemingly inherent discontent in human civilization. Stiegler’s main thesis is that, in the Western industrial world, the constitutivity of technics is being repressed where it should be integrated in the processes of individual and collective becoming to prevent the liquidation of these processes and the rise of discontent in society. To better understand Stiegler’s ideas, I compare them to those of Austrian founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), by whom Stiegler was greatly inspired. By outlining the parallels between these thinkers, both their work sheds light on the subject of discontent in our civilization and embeds it in a wider context.