FREUDIANISM:A MARXIST CRITIQUE

Freudianism: A Marxist Critique investigates Freud's theory and method, that Freud's use of "the unconscious" in psychoanalysis is questionable. The book discusses that the unconscious is an aspect of "the conscious" something like an "unofficial conscious" different from the normal, everyday "official conscious." The conscious is assumed as an "inner speech" with the properties of language, and because the unconscious is an aspect of the conscious, hence the unconscious is also linguistic in nature. Humans, according to Freud's theory, are inherently false, individualistic, asocial, existing in an ahistorical setting. The strength of the book comes from its concept of discourse that binds humans together in their social contexts of action and history through language. The book notes that the "cosmism" of Steiner's anthroposophy, Bergson's biologism, and Frued's psychobiologism and sexualism have endowed with their own features the physiognomy of the modern "Kulturmensch." In this culture, the Steinerians, the Bergsonians, and the Freudians have raised the three altars of Frued's belief—magic, instinct, and sex. Psychiatrists, psycho-analysts, psychologists, philosophers, as well as students of psychology and its related branches will find this book very challenging.