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Freud and Utopia

From Cosmological Narcissism to the Soft Dictatorship of Reason

M. Andrew Holowchak

Though Freud never makes utopia the subject of any one work, this book is an attempt to tease out Freud's notion of utopia through examination of his group-psychology works such as The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and Its Discontents, Why War? and On the Question of a Weltanschauung. Through tracing out three key blows to human narcissism through scientific advance, Holowchak shows the extent to which biological factors impact human psychology and influence the prospect of future human happiness—the triumph of ego over id. The lure of utopian thinking for Freud is its dependence on human imagination, which relies on wish-impulses that seek fulfillment. It is also the drive in Freud, perhaps based fundamentally on his hidden wishes, to demonstrate that psychoanalysis is a profitable investigative tool for not only individual neuroses, but also for group neuroses and the social, political, and ethical issues underlying them. Freud's perceived successes with the psychoanalytic investigation of group neuroses emboldened him to explore utopianism psychoanalytically.

Lexington Books

Pages: 174 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7391-6856-1 • Hardback • November 2011 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Mind & Body, Psychology / History, Psychology / Psychotherapy / General, Psychology / Movements / General, Philosophy / Social, Philosophy / Epistemology, Philosophy / Movements / Phenomenology, Philosophy / Political

Freud and Utopia

From Cosmological Narcissism to the Soft Dictatorship of Reason

Hardback

Summary

Though Freud never makes utopia the subject of any one work, this book is an attempt to tease out Freud's notion of utopia through examination of his group-psychology works such as The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and Its Discontents, Why War? and On the Question of a Weltanschauung. Through tracing out three key blows to human narcissism through scientific advance, Holowchak shows the extent to which biological factors impact human psychology and influence the prospect of future human happiness—the triumph of ego over id. The lure of utopian thinking for Freud is its dependence on human imagination, which relies on wish-impulses that seek fulfillment. It is also the drive in Freud, perhaps based fundamentally on his hidden wishes, to demonstrate that psychoanalysis is a profitable investigative tool for not only individual neuroses, but also for group neuroses and the social, political, and ethical issues underlying them. Freud's perceived successes with the psychoanalytic investigation of group neuroses emboldened him to explore utopianism psychoanalytically.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 174 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7391-6856-1 • Hardback • November 2011 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Mind & Body, Psychology / History, Psychology / Psychotherapy / General, Psychology / Movements / General, Philosophy / Social, Philosophy / Epistemology, Philosophy / Movements / Phenomenology, Philosophy / Political

Author

M. Andrew Holowchak teaches philosophy at Rider University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Positively Freud
Chapter 2: Religion and Utopia
Chapter 3: Philosophy and Utopia
Chapter 4: Science and Utopia
Chapter 5: The Legitimacy of Psychoanalysis
Chapter 6: A Fourth Blow to Human Narcissism

Reviews

Fluent, engaging and highly informative, Holowchak’s wide-ranging study sheds a great deal of welcome light on the place of Freud in our contemporary culture.
— John Cottingham, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Reading

To provide a concise general account of psychoanalysis that offers both originality and insight, and to clearly present Freud’s defense of reason in defiance of all that challenges his Stoicism (and ours), makes Freud and Utopia an important contribution.
— Alfred I. Tauber, professor emeritus of philosophy and Zoltan Kohn professor emeritus of medicine, Boston University

Freud and Utopia

From Cosmological Narcissism to the Soft Dictatorship of Reason

M. Andrew Holowchak

Freud and Utopia

From Cosmological Narcissism to the Soft Dictatorship of Reason

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