Sigmund Freud combines psychoanalysis with the study of early cultures, comparing the rules of so-called primitive societies with the symptoms of neurotic patients. He discusses the horror of incest, the fear of the dead, and the role of the totem animal. He then proposes a story of a primal horde in which the sons band together to kill the dominant father, an act that leaves guilt and inspires religious rules and the first moral laws.
Readers interested in the foundations of psychoanalysis, or in how thinkers once tried to explain religion, will find a clear statement of his argument. It is not current anthropology, but it remains a revealing and influential work.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative and open-ended; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1991
- Publisher
- Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag
- ISBN
- 9783596104512
- Language
- DE
