A philosophical critique of the concept of the Ego in Freud and its relation to modernity
This dissertation aims to assess the distance between Freud's theoretical conception of the Ego and the modern conception of the subject, as well as the remnants of modernity in Freud's work. To do this, we will present the deductive construction of the I from Descartes through the cogito and Kant's transcendental subjectivity, used as examples of the centrality of the subject, identified with reason, in the act of legitimately knowing and encoding the world. We will then move to the decentering carried out by contemporary philosophers, with a brief example of Nietzsche's dismantling of these two modern philosophers, to finally arrive at Freud. Highlighting three important moments in his work, represented by three significant texts, we analyze the nuances of the concept of the Ego in each of them to conclude that it loses centrality but preserves the illusion of unity. Moreover, as Freud distances himself from morality, he radicalizes psychoanalysis as an inter-subjective experience.