Totem and Taboo - Softcover

Freud, Sigmund

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1909735191 ISBN 13: 9781909735194

Publisher: Aziloth Books, 2013

Synopsis

'Totem and Taboo' began life as four separate essays published by Sigmund Freud between 1912 and 1913. Freud was struck by the strong parallels between the behavior of neurotics, children and pre-literate tribal peoples (which he termed 'primitives'), and boldly extended his psycho-analytic theories into the fields of social psychology and anthropology. His belief that humanity's distant past was moulded by the deepest urges of the human psyche led him to propose an astonishing theory which brought together such disparate concepts as Animism, the Primal Horde, Totemism, Cannibalism, and the Oedipus Complex to explain the origin of both civilisation and religious practices.

About this title

From the Back Cover

In this brilliant exploratory attempt to extend the analysis of the individual psyche to society and culture, Freud laid the lines for much of his late thought, and made a major contribution to the psychology of religion. Primitive societies and the individual, he found, mutually illuminate each other, and the psychology of primitive races bears marked resemblances to the psychology of neurotics. Basing his investigations on the finding of anthropologists, Freud came to the conclusion that totemism and its accompanying restriction of exogamy derive form the savage's dread of incest, and that taboo customs parallel closely the symptoms of compulsion neurosis. The killing of the 'primal father' and the consequent sense of guilt are seen as determining events both in the misty tribal pre-history of mankind, and in the suppressed wishes of individual men. Both totemism and taboo are thus held to have their roots in the Oedipus complex, which lies at the basis of all neurosis, and, as Freud argues, is also the origin of religion, ethics, society, and art.

About the Author

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is one of the twentieth century's greatest minds and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. His many works include The Ego and the Id; An Outline of Psycho-Analysis; Inhibitions; Symptoms and Anxiety; New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis; Civilization and Its Discontent, and others.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aziloth Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1909735191
• ISBN 13: 9781909735194
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 132