Freud & the sexual revolution?

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Could Freud be influenced by the sexual revolution in Berlin(Europe)?

-- Jamie Lynne Atkins (vajamie@earthlink.net), September 30, 2004

Answers

Perhaps you should have a look at some books on Freud's life, such as Peter Gay's influential biography.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), October 01, 2004.

i do belive that the sexual revalution played a part in influencing freud however i belive that there are other factors that we have to cinsider when analysing freuds influences. One of these is the fact that he lived through the war and after the war there would of been a great deal of people that would have been "at it". also in nazi germeny they were incouraged to have babies this would have crated a generation of people that would have thought more sexually then previous and as freud did no actual stuidies he would have only seen the side of people that he wanted to see.

-- milo taylor (milocoolguy@yahoo.com), October 08, 2004.

There are a number of difficulties with Milo's interpretation. First of all, we seem to have confused two wars. Freud lived through World War I, but not through World War II (he died in 1939). Thus, Nazis have little to do with his outlook (except very late in his life). Moreoever, his interest in the influence of sexuality on behavior began long before World War I. His first major work was published in 1900. World War I was 1914-1918. Freud's theory was in place long before that. Indeed, it was World War I that prompted Freud to add "thanatos" (the "death instinct") to his list of human motivations.

Finally, Freud did lots of "studies." In line with the medical practices of his time, howeever, they were mostly case studies.

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), October 09, 2004.


I would like to say thanks for all of your answers again. I would like to ask Christopher Green a question. When you responded to my question you made some very good points, you did not however say if you thought that Freud was actually influenced by the sexual revolution, which was going on during Freud's lifetime. Another question might be if Freud helped the sexual revolution by giving people an excuse for their sexual behaviors. Theorys such as Freud's had to cause some what of a commotion, so could he have fueled the sexual revolution?

-- Jamie Lynne Atkins (vajamie@earthlink.net), October 09, 2004.

In response to Jamie, I'm afraid I do not know enough about the "sexual revolution" that you say was taking place in Berlin during Freud's lifetime to know whether and in what ways the two interacted.

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), October 10, 2004.


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