Conscience as  Conflict

1. As the id is primitive (infantile), and in a sense compulsive part of the psyche, and driven by the ‘pleasure principle’. It represents  the unruly passions – one of the horse’s pulling Plato’s chariot in the analogy of the charioteer. The picture is of the screaming and demanding infant that needs to be taught/develop self-control. There is actually a conflict also within the id between eros (creative life instinct) and thanatos (destructive death instinct) – an intriguing idea when we consider the way society misuses and misunderstands the role of eros in the psyche. Freud used a related horse analogy (a bit different for the charioteer)

“Freud made the analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. The ego is ‘like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse.’” ( see weblink below)

2. The ego comprises an idea of self or a projection of our self identity (who am I?) – where the pleasure principle is moderated by ‘the reality principle’ (in a  sense determining ‘what we can live with’), as the attached weblink expresses it “working out realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society”. The ego is trying to impose some rational order on the id. In this sense ego and id are in conflict, as in the two horses of Plato’s chariot (passions verus ideals) which may pull in opposite directions in behavioural terms. It is pragmatic (in a utilitarian sense, consequentialist).

3. As the superego is our moral controlling mechanism (Freudian origin of conscience), it seeks to reconcile contradictory feelings, desires and goals within the psyche. However, as it is a product of parental and social ideas of right and wrong it can also be the source of irrational guilt, for example, about sexual feelings or behaviours, and correspond to an ‘immature conscience’ . This can (if we are e.g. neurotic) only be liberated from unconscious (repressed) desires or suppressed feelings by therapy. So in a sense the superego can be in conflict with either ego or id, but seeks to create some moral order on both (and any conflict between them). The superego is idealistic  and led by values (even if the values prove to be imposed by our upbringing, and irrational). There can be a conflict between values and desires (id) or with the reality principle (ego) at any time with the human psyche. For example, in business ethics what is pragmatic (and causes least pain – think e.g. for the potential whistleblower) may not necessarily be the action we believe is right (blowing the whistle). PB

“The superego’s function is to control the id’s impulses, especially those which society forbids, such as sex and aggression. It also has the function of persuading the ego to turn to moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection”.

See for example https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html