7/4/2023 0 Comments Freud totemYet they cannot offer to either side what each lacks-to the former an adequate initiation into the new psychological technique or to the latter a sufficient grasp of the material that awaits treatment. They seek to bridge the gap between students of such subjects as social anthropology, philology and folklore on the one hand, and psycho-analysts on the other. The four essays collected in these pages aim at arousing the interest of a fairly wide circle of educated readers, but they cannot in fact be understood and appreciated except by those few who are no longer strangers to the essential nature of psycho-analysis. He wants to show, or at least explore the idea, that the totems and taboos of “savage” human culture spring from the same source as the superstitions and avoidance practices of modern “neurotics.”įreud further explains his intentions in a short preface to the work: The subtitle of the work, Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, is absolutely key to understanding Freud’s intentions with the four essays that he compiled into this volume. Picked this one up on a whim at my favorite used book store in Door County, Wisconsin, and it’s my first exposure to the actual writings of Sigmund Freud.
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