Freud's Odyssey: Psychoanalysis, Evolution, and the End of Metaphysics

Freud's Odyssey: Psychoanalysis, Evolution, and the End of Metaphysics Review

This philosophical interpretation of Freud’s thought casts a revealing light on the perplexities besetting a major architect of the modern outlook as he strove to come to grips with the conflict between Darwin’s theory of evolution and the Western philosophical tradition over the status of human existence.

Offering a new perspective on the tensions and transformations of psychoanalytic theory, it demonstrates how Freud’s quest to articulate a science of the soul involved an internal contradiction that, in turn, engendered the relentless dynamic evident in the unfolding of the psychoanalytic theory of the mind.

Seeing Freud’s thought as situated at the intersection between Western metaphysics and the natural scientific revolution consummated by Darwin, Draenos’ interpretation offers fresh insight into a number of contentious issues surrounding Freud’s writings: the discovery of the unconscious, the origin of the sexual theme, the introduction of narcissism midway through his course, the significance of Totem and Taboo, the belated appearance of an ego-concept in his late writings, and the emergence of the Eros and death instincts.

This digital edition provides a new introduction to the print version published in 1982 by Yale University Press.

Stan Draenos is the author of "Andreas Papandreou: The Making of a Greek Democrat and Political Maverick" (London: IB Tauris, 2012).