Freud and Historical Thought
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v4i9.800Keywords:
Freud, Humanity, Kairos, Leader, Unilinear, VerstehenAbstract
Historians constantly seek to understand what motivates those in positions of power to make the decisions that they do. By adopting the principles of a specific psychological approach into our analysis, it is possible to gain a more nuanced understanding of our subjects and the motivations that drive them. The application of Freud’s psychoanalytic theories seems uniquely placed to assist the historian in developing a richer interpretation of the whole person, as opposed to just one facet of an individual’s life. In addition, Freud’s insistence that we cannot progress as a civilization if we cannot recall the repressed past, seems particularly relevant today as marginalized and formerly disposed peoples struggle to reclaim their own history misrepresented in biographies written by former rulers and administrators.
References
Freud, S. (1930) Civilization and Discontents. (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Freud, S. (1950). Totem and Taboo. (J.Strachey, Trans.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Freud, S. (1963). A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. (2nd ed). (J. Riviere, Trans.). New York: Simon and Schuster.
Langer, W. (1963). The Next Assignment in B. Mazlish, Psychoanalysis and History (87-107). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Mazlish, B. (1963) Ed. Psychoanalysis and History. (56-68). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Mazlish, B. (1966). The Riddle of History: The Great Speculators from Vico to Freud. N.p.: Minerva Press.
Meyerhoff, H. (1963). Freud and the Ambiguity of Culture, In B. Mazlish, Psychoanalysis and History. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Rieff, P. (1971). The Meaning of History and Religion in Freud’s Thought, In E.B. Mazlish, Psychoanalysis and History (pp. 23-44). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
West, R. (1986). Laws, Rights, and Other Totemic Illusions: Legal Liberalism and Freud’s Theory of the Rule of Law. University of Pennsylvania Law Review Vol. 134: 817-832. Web. 29 July. 2015.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).