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This book presents new insights into Freud's famous "discovery" of the unconscious and the subsequent development of psychoanalytic theories. The authors explore the original context in which these ideas arose and the central debate about mind as matter or something that transcends matter. In the course of this examination, it is demonstrated that Freud was influenced not only by the 19th century scientific milieu, but also by ancient cultures. While it is known that Freud was an avid collector of ancient artifacts and generally interested in these older cultures, this book systematically investigates their profound effect on his thinking and theorizing. Two major influences, Egyptian mythology and Jewish mysticism are analyzed in terms of similarities to Freud's emerging ideas about the mind and its diseases. To further this line of investigation, Bakan supplies an illuminating discussion of what it means to interpret. Taken from the viewpoint that interpretation involves an u
List of contents
The Origins and Groundwork of Psychoanalysis.- From the Pharaohs to Freud: Psychoanalysis and the Magical Egyptian Tradition.-Introduction.- Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths.- Ancient Egyptian Symbols, Magic and Free Association.- The Influence of Jewish Mysticism.- Moses and the Ancient Egyptians.- The Root of All Evil.- Freud and the Kabbala.- The Riddle of the Sphinx.- On Interpretation of Mind.- Introduction.- Interpretation Exemplified.- The Problem of the Red Dots.- Deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphics.- Interpretations Without a "Dictionary".- The Reality of Fiction.- Durkheim's Interpretation of Social Fact Warfare.- The Circle.- Interpretation and Biblical Exegesis.- Popper's Third World and Natural Law.- Thermodynamics and Information.- Logic of Interpretation.- The Human Mind as Object of Interpretation.- A History of the Rorschach Test and an Analysis of Bookplates of Famous Psychologists.- Preface.- Thomas Bray (1656-1730).- George Berkeley (1685-1753).- Samuel Johnson (1696-1772).- William James (1842-1910).- Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).- A. A. Brill (1874-1948).- G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924).- James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934).- Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930).- Lillien Jane Martin (1851-1943).- Robert M. Yerkes (1876-1956).- Edward Tolman (1886-1959).- Smith Ely Jelliffe (1866-1945).- Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957).- Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952).- Alexander Melville Bell (1819-1905).- Appendix I: Books from Freud's Library on Ancient Egypt.- Is Frued A Determinist?.- Comments on Freud and Determinism by David Forrest.
Summary
This book presents new insights into Freud’s famous “discovery” of the unconscious and the subsequent development of psychoanalytic theories. The authors explore the original context in which these ideas arose and the central debate about mind as matter or something that transcends matter. In the course of this examination, it is demonstrated that Freud was influenced not only by the 19th century scientific milieu, but also by ancient cultures. While it is known that Freud was an avid collector of ancient artifacts and generally interested in these older cultures, this book systematically investigates their profound effect on his thinking and theorizing. Two major influences, Egyptian mythology and Jewish mysticism are analyzed in terms of similarities to Freud’s emerging ideas about the mind and its diseases. To further this line of investigation, Bakan supplies an illuminating discussion of what it means to interpret. Taken from the viewpoint that interpretation involves an u
