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When Freud, in Civilization and Its Discontents, 8 expressed his concern with the fate of man and society, a significant number of the psychoanalytic world translated concern into despair, and like Naphta in The Magic Mountain developed despair into a credo of cynicism and nihilistic withdrawal. While not all participated in this pessimistic retreat in Freud's name (notably Aichhorn and Reich), an attitude emerged which regarded social action as suspect. Perhaps it was Freud's remark upon his lack of knowledge of the sociology of civilization,8 or his concern at simplistic application of psychoanalytic theory,8 which was construed as an injunction to remain aloof from the application of psychoanalytic principles to social problems. For those who rejected Naphta's role, aloofness to the social application of psychoanalytic principles left only the alternative of Settembrini-like romanticism. Settembrini's ineffectual romanticism and Naphta's alienation both assure the victory of Thanatos and offend Freud's final injunction in Civilization and its Discontents:
Men have brought their powers of subduing the forces of nature to such a pitch that by using them they could now very easily exterminate one another to the last man. They know this—hence arises a great part of their current unrest, their dejection, their mood of apprehension. And now it may be expected that the other of the two ‘heavenly forces,’ eternal Eros, will put forth his strength so as to maintain himself alongside of his equally immortal adversary.8