In Totem and Taboo, Sigmund Freud attempts a bold and interdisciplinary synthesis, bridging the realms of psychoanalysis, anthropology, sociology, and the early studies of religion. Originally composed as a series of essays between 1912 and 1913, the work endeavors to demonstrate that the psychological mechanisms underlying the mental lives of so-called "savages"—a term reflective of the anthropological language of Freud's time—and those operating in the neurotic individuals of modern civilization are not merely analogous but fundamentally congruent. Freud advances the hypothesis that the unconscious life of the neurotic retains vestiges of primitive mental life, with totemism and taboo serving as cultural expressions of repressed psychological processes.
The book is structured around four essays: "The Horror of Incest," "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence," "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thought," and "The Return of Totemism in Childhood." Across these, Freud maps out the roots of moral and religious behavior in the latent desires, conflicts, and prohibitions of the unconscious mind. Central to his argument is the claim that cultural prohibitions—such as incest taboos—can be traced to collective neuroses, particularly those rooted in the Oedipal complex, and preserved in myth and ritual.
Freud draws from anthropological accounts by James Frazer, Wilhelm Wundt, and others, whose works were themselves shaped by the imperial and colonial ideologies of their time. Nevertheless, Freud is less interested in ethnographic accuracy than in the interpretive value of mythic and ritual structures as they reflect psychological truths. The totem, in Freud's theorization, becomes a symbolic substitute for the father figure, and the taboo—a social and ritual prohibition—becomes an externalized form of repression.
One of the most provocative claims of Totem and Taboo is the suggestion that the origin of social and religious institutions lies in a primordial act of violence: the collective murder of the primal father by his sons. This speculative "primal horde" theory provides the psycho-historical matrix from which both guilt and conscience arise, culminating in the superego's emergence and the foundation of civilization itself. Freud's deployment of this mytho-psychological narrative not only attempts to trace the genealogy of religious sentiment and moral law, but also contends that neuroses are individual returns to this archaic inheritance.
The second essay's analysis of taboo reveals Freud's exploration of ambivalence in emotional life—particularly the simultaneous attraction and repulsion found in neurotic behaviors and social rituals. He contends that what appears to be superstition or irrationality is in fact structured by unconscious logic, deeply saturated with conflicted affect. This duality, which Freud terms ambivalence, is crucial to his interpretation of the sacred, the forbidden, and the uncanny (Unheimlich).
Perhaps most revolutionary is Freud's re-framing of animistic and magical thinking as the psychological norm of early mental development. The "omnipotence of thoughts," a hallmark of childhood cognition and magical ritual alike, is shown to persist in the neuroses of modern individuals. Thus, Freud reveals a continuum between so-called primitive and civilized minds: both are governed by unconscious processes that resist the rationalizing forces of culture.
While the anthropological basis of Totem and Taboo has since been critiqued and superseded, the work remains seminal for its methodological innovation—employing psychoanalytic tools to interpret not just the individual psyche but collective cultural phenomena. Freud's suggestion that social structures are born of psychological conflict has deeply influenced thinkers across the humanities, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ernest Jones, Julia Kristeva, and René Girard. Furthermore, Totem and Taboo lays the groundwork for Freud's later works, such as Moses and Monotheism and Civilization and Its Discontents, extending psychoanalysis beyond the clinic to the structures of history, myth, and culture.
In Totem and Taboo, Freud initiates what may be considered a psychoanalytic archaeology of the human condition. Through his speculative excavation of the symbolic origins of society, he invites readers into a disturbing but illuminating confrontation with the unconscious forces that shape morality, religion, kinship, and the psychic architecture of civilization itself.
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The book is structured around four essays: "The Horror of Incest," "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence," "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thought," and "The Return of Totemism in Childhood." Across these, Freud maps out the roots of moral and religious behavior in the latent desires, conflicts, and prohibitions of the unconscious mind. Central to his argument is the claim that cultural prohibitions—such as incest taboos—can be traced to collective neuroses, particularly those rooted in the Oedipal complex, and preserved in myth and ritual.
Freud draws from anthropological accounts by James Frazer, Wilhelm Wundt, and others, whose works were themselves shaped by the imperial and colonial ideologies of their time. Nevertheless, Freud is less interested in ethnographic accuracy than in the interpretive value of mythic and ritual structures as they reflect psychological truths. The totem, in Freud's theorization, becomes a symbolic substitute for the father figure, and the taboo—a social and ritual prohibition—becomes an externalized form of repression.
One of the most provocative claims of Totem and Taboo is the suggestion that the origin of social and religious institutions lies in a primordial act of violence: the collective murder of the primal father by his sons. This speculative "primal horde" theory provides the psycho-historical matrix from which both guilt and conscience arise, culminating in the superego's emergence and the foundation of civilization itself. Freud's deployment of this mytho-psychological narrative not only attempts to trace the genealogy of religious sentiment and moral law, but also contends that neuroses are individual returns to this archaic inheritance.
The second essay's analysis of taboo reveals Freud's exploration of ambivalence in emotional life—particularly the simultaneous attraction and repulsion found in neurotic behaviors and social rituals. He contends that what appears to be superstition or irrationality is in fact structured by unconscious logic, deeply saturated with conflicted affect. This duality, which Freud terms ambivalence, is crucial to his interpretation of the sacred, the forbidden, and the uncanny (Unheimlich).
Perhaps most revolutionary is Freud's re-framing of animistic and magical thinking as the psychological norm of early mental development. The "omnipotence of thoughts," a hallmark of childhood cognition and magical ritual alike, is shown to persist in the neuroses of modern individuals. Thus, Freud reveals a continuum between so-called primitive and civilized minds: both are governed by unconscious processes that resist the rationalizing forces of culture.
While the anthropological basis of Totem and Taboo has since been critiqued and superseded, the work remains seminal for its methodological innovation—employing psychoanalytic tools to interpret not just the individual psyche but collective cultural phenomena. Freud's suggestion that social structures are born of psychological conflict has deeply influenced thinkers across the humanities, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ernest Jones, Julia Kristeva, and René Girard. Furthermore, Totem and Taboo lays the groundwork for Freud's later works, such as Moses and Monotheism and Civilization and Its Discontents, extending psychoanalysis beyond the clinic to the structures of history, myth, and culture.
In Totem and Taboo, Freud initiates what may be considered a psychoanalytic archaeology of the human condition. Through his speculative excavation of the symbolic origins of society, he invites readers into a disturbing but illuminating confrontation with the unconscious forces that shape morality, religion, kinship, and the psychic architecture of civilization itself.
Totem and taboo Resemblances between the psychic lives of savages and neurotics
In Totem and Taboo, Sigmund Freud attempts a bold and interdisciplinary synthesis, bridging the realms of psychoanalysis, anthropology, sociology, and the early studies of religion. Originally composed as a series of essays between 1912 and 1913, the work endeavors to demonstrate that the psychological mechanisms underlying the mental lives of so-called "savages"—a term reflective of the anthropological language of Freud's time—and those operating in the neurotic individuals of modern civilization are not merely analogous but fundamentally congruent. Freud advances the hypothesis that the unconscious life of the neurotic retains vestiges of primitive mental life, with totemism and taboo serving as cultural expressions of repressed psychological processes.
The book is structured around four essays: "The Horror of Incest," "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence," "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thought," and "The Return of Totemism in Childhood." Across these, Freud maps out the roots of moral and religious behavior in the latent desires, conflicts, and prohibitions of the unconscious mind. Central to his argument is the claim that cultural prohibitions—such as incest taboos—can be traced to collective neuroses, particularly those rooted in the Oedipal complex, and preserved in myth and ritual.
Freud draws from anthropological accounts by James Frazer, Wilhelm Wundt, and others, whose works were themselves shaped by the imperial and colonial ideologies of their time. Nevertheless, Freud is less interested in ethnographic accuracy than in the interpretive value of mythic and ritual structures as they reflect psychological truths. The totem, in Freud's theorization, becomes a symbolic substitute for the father figure, and the taboo—a social and ritual prohibition—becomes an externalized form of repression.
One of the most provocative claims of Totem and Taboo is the suggestion that the origin of social and religious institutions lies in a primordial act of violence: the collective murder of the primal father by his sons. This speculative "primal horde" theory provides the psycho-historical matrix from which both guilt and conscience arise, culminating in the superego's emergence and the foundation of civilization itself. Freud's deployment of this mytho-psychological narrative not only attempts to trace the genealogy of religious sentiment and moral law, but also contends that neuroses are individual returns to this archaic inheritance.
The second essay's analysis of taboo reveals Freud's exploration of ambivalence in emotional life—particularly the simultaneous attraction and repulsion found in neurotic behaviors and social rituals. He contends that what appears to be superstition or irrationality is in fact structured by unconscious logic, deeply saturated with conflicted affect. This duality, which Freud terms ambivalence, is crucial to his interpretation of the sacred, the forbidden, and the uncanny (Unheimlich).
Perhaps most revolutionary is Freud's re-framing of animistic and magical thinking as the psychological norm of early mental development. The "omnipotence of thoughts," a hallmark of childhood cognition and magical ritual alike, is shown to persist in the neuroses of modern individuals. Thus, Freud reveals a continuum between so-called primitive and civilized minds: both are governed by unconscious processes that resist the rationalizing forces of culture.
While the anthropological basis of Totem and Taboo has since been critiqued and superseded, the work remains seminal for its methodological innovation—employing psychoanalytic tools to interpret not just the individual psyche but collective cultural phenomena. Freud's suggestion that social structures are born of psychological conflict has deeply influenced thinkers across the humanities, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ernest Jones, Julia Kristeva, and René Girard. Furthermore, Totem and Taboo lays the groundwork for Freud's later works, such as Moses and Monotheism and Civilization and Its Discontents, extending psychoanalysis beyond the clinic to the structures of history, myth, and culture.
In Totem and Taboo, Freud initiates what may be considered a psychoanalytic archaeology of the human condition. Through his speculative excavation of the symbolic origins of society, he invites readers into a disturbing but illuminating confrontation with the unconscious forces that shape morality, religion, kinship, and the psychic architecture of civilization itself.
The book is structured around four essays: "The Horror of Incest," "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence," "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thought," and "The Return of Totemism in Childhood." Across these, Freud maps out the roots of moral and religious behavior in the latent desires, conflicts, and prohibitions of the unconscious mind. Central to his argument is the claim that cultural prohibitions—such as incest taboos—can be traced to collective neuroses, particularly those rooted in the Oedipal complex, and preserved in myth and ritual.
Freud draws from anthropological accounts by James Frazer, Wilhelm Wundt, and others, whose works were themselves shaped by the imperial and colonial ideologies of their time. Nevertheless, Freud is less interested in ethnographic accuracy than in the interpretive value of mythic and ritual structures as they reflect psychological truths. The totem, in Freud's theorization, becomes a symbolic substitute for the father figure, and the taboo—a social and ritual prohibition—becomes an externalized form of repression.
One of the most provocative claims of Totem and Taboo is the suggestion that the origin of social and religious institutions lies in a primordial act of violence: the collective murder of the primal father by his sons. This speculative "primal horde" theory provides the psycho-historical matrix from which both guilt and conscience arise, culminating in the superego's emergence and the foundation of civilization itself. Freud's deployment of this mytho-psychological narrative not only attempts to trace the genealogy of religious sentiment and moral law, but also contends that neuroses are individual returns to this archaic inheritance.
The second essay's analysis of taboo reveals Freud's exploration of ambivalence in emotional life—particularly the simultaneous attraction and repulsion found in neurotic behaviors and social rituals. He contends that what appears to be superstition or irrationality is in fact structured by unconscious logic, deeply saturated with conflicted affect. This duality, which Freud terms ambivalence, is crucial to his interpretation of the sacred, the forbidden, and the uncanny (Unheimlich).
Perhaps most revolutionary is Freud's re-framing of animistic and magical thinking as the psychological norm of early mental development. The "omnipotence of thoughts," a hallmark of childhood cognition and magical ritual alike, is shown to persist in the neuroses of modern individuals. Thus, Freud reveals a continuum between so-called primitive and civilized minds: both are governed by unconscious processes that resist the rationalizing forces of culture.
While the anthropological basis of Totem and Taboo has since been critiqued and superseded, the work remains seminal for its methodological innovation—employing psychoanalytic tools to interpret not just the individual psyche but collective cultural phenomena. Freud's suggestion that social structures are born of psychological conflict has deeply influenced thinkers across the humanities, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ernest Jones, Julia Kristeva, and René Girard. Furthermore, Totem and Taboo lays the groundwork for Freud's later works, such as Moses and Monotheism and Civilization and Its Discontents, extending psychoanalysis beyond the clinic to the structures of history, myth, and culture.
In Totem and Taboo, Freud initiates what may be considered a psychoanalytic archaeology of the human condition. Through his speculative excavation of the symbolic origins of society, he invites readers into a disturbing but illuminating confrontation with the unconscious forces that shape morality, religion, kinship, and the psychic architecture of civilization itself.
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Totem and taboo Resemblances between the psychic lives of savages and neurotics
Totem and taboo Resemblances between the psychic lives of savages and neurotics
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940184651613 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Sigmund Freud |
| Publication date: | 07/31/2025 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 716 KB |
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