The Cambridge Companion to Freud

The Cambridge Companion to Freud is a 1991 collection of articles about Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, edited by the philosopher Jerome Neu. The book received both positive and negative reviews. Some of the individual contributions received praise, but commentators criticized the exclusion of particular topics and the failure to include particular authors as contribuors.

The Cambridge Companion to Freud
Cover
EditorJerome Neu
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesCambridge Companions
SubjectSigmund Freud
PublisherCambridge University Press
Publication date
1991
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages356
ISBN0-521-37779-X

Summary
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.

The Cambridge Companion to Freud includes an introduction by Jerome Neu, and essays on various topics related to Freud.[1] These discussions include those by the cultural historian Carl Emil Schorske on Freud's views on "the implications of individual psychodynamics for civilization as a whole",[2] the intellectual historian Gerald N. Izenberg on Freud's seduction theory,[3] the philosopher Clark Glymour on the relation of Freud's views to cognitive psychology,[4] the philosopher James Hopkins on Freud's theory of dreams,[5] the philosopher Sebastian Gardner on the unconscious,[6] the psychoanalyst Bennett Simon and the psychologist Rachel B. Blass on Oedipus complex,[7] Neu on Freud's views on sexual perversion and sexuality in general,[8] the philosopher Jennifer Church on morality and the superego,[9] the psychoanalyst Nancy Chodorow on Freud's views on women,[10] the philosopher Richard Wollheim on the relevance of Freud's views to art,[11] the anthropologist Robert A. Paul on Freud's "cultural books" Totem and Taboo (1913), Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921), Civilization and Its Discontents (1929), and Moses and Monotheism (1939),[12] and the philosopher John Deigh on The Future of an Illusion (1927) and Civilization and Its Discontents.[13] The book also reprints a critical review of the philosopher Adolf Grünbaum's The Foundations of Psychoanalysis (1984) by the philosopher David Sachs.[14]

List of contributors
  • Jerome Neu, "Introduction"
  • Carl Emil Schorske, "Freud: The psychoarcheology of civilizations"
  • Gerald N. Izenberg, "Seduced and abandoned: The rise and fall of Freud's seduction theory"
  • Clark Glymour, "Freud's androids"
  • James Hopkins, "The interpretation of dreams"
  • Sebastian Gardner, "The unconscious"
  • Bennett Simon and Rachel B. Blass, "The development and vicissitudes of Freud's ideas on the Oedipus complex"
  • Jerome Neu, "Freud and perversion"
  • Jennifer Church, "Morality and the internalized other"
  • Nancy Chodorow "Freud on women"
  • Richard Wollheim, "Freud and the understanding of art"
  • Robert A. Paul, "Freud's anthropology: A reading of the 'cultural books'"
  • John Deigh, "Freud's later theory of civilization: Changes and implications"
  • David Sachs, "In fairness to Freud: A critical notice of The Foundations of Psychoanalysis, by Adolf Grünbaum"

Publication history

The Cambridge Companion to Freud was published by Cambridge University Press in 1991.[15]

Reception

The Cambridge Companion to Freud received positive reviews from the historian Sander Gilman in Medical History,[16] the philosopher Marcia Cavell in Ethics,[17] and Leonard Groopman in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,[18] and a mixed review from the philosopher Andrew Brook in Philosophy in Review.[19] The book received negative reviews from the sociologist Christopher Badcock in Sociology and the British Journal of Sociology,[20][21] and Brayton Polka in History of European Ideas.[22]

Gilman considered the book useful and well-written. He praised the contributions by Schorske, Izenberg, Hopkins, Neu, Chodorow, Wollheim, and Paul and Deigh. He believed Izenberg's contribution benefited from recent discussions of the seduction theory. However, he felt that Gardner's contribution would have benefited from "attention to the older discussion of the pre-history of the unconscious", and that the book as a whole would have been improved by the inclusion of a discussion of the young Freud and his interests.[16]

Cavell described the book as useful. Though she noted that some important topics were omitted, she added that "most of the salient ones are here and thoughtfully treated." She considered it appropriate that all the authors represented in the book "write from a position somewhere within the Freudian camp", though she noted that some would regard it as a weakness. She wrote that the essays by Paul and Deigh, Izenberg, Simon and Blass, Neu, and Chodorow contained valuable overviews of changes in Freud's views on particular topics. She credited Hopkins with providing the most lucid explanation of "ordinary explanations of actions in terms of motives or beliefs and desires" that she had ever seen. She found Paul's discussion of Freud's "myth of the primal horde" interesting, but criticized him for "leaving in place ... Freud's arguably grandiose view of the oedipal complex as an inscription in the very brain of the human infant" and for failing to "question such Freudian assumptions as that explaining intrapsychic conflict requires two basic instincts." She criticized Deigh and Church for failing to "question Freud's narrow view of self-interest" and his "assumption that only self-interest can ground love for the other."[17]

Groopman considered the essays "too diverse in aim, depth, and quality to point in any single direction or convey a single message." However, he praised the contributions by Wollheim and Chodorow, and concluded that the work as a whole helped to show the diversity of Freud's work.[18] Brook considered most the essays included be of high quality, and praised the contributions by Chodorow, Hopkins, Gardner, Simon and Blass, and Paul. However, he believed that the work as a whole was limited by the fact that it discussed only a few of Freud's interests and theories. He also criticized the over-representation of philosophers and Americans, and under-representation of women and practicing psychoanalysts, among its contributors, and the failure to include contributions from Grünbaum and the psychoanalyst Marshall Edelson.[19]

Badcock maintained in Sociology that the book incorrectly treats Freud as a philosopher rather than a "pioneering scientific empiricist",[20] and, in the British Journal of Sociology, that it "perpetuates many errors and misunderstandings of Freud's work", for example by confusing the psychoanalytic concept of repression with Marxist views, and by offering a one-sided view of Freud as a "liberator of sexuality". He found Deigh's essay rewarding, but dismissed the other essays. He criticized Paul's discussion of Totem and Taboo, writing that Paul, motivated by the wish to correct Freud's Lamarckism, "read more recent ideas on cultural and genetic evolution into Freud's texts".[21] Polka found the book disappointing, writing that it "lacks a comprehensive conception or vision uniting the disparate essays" and failed to make clear why Freud was important and what could be learned from him.[22]

Robert Wilcocks criticized The Cambridge Companion to Freud for including no contributions by the philosopher Frank Cioffi and the critic Frederick Crews. Though noting that the work showed the ongoing interest in psychoanalysis, he accused many of its contributors of "willful blindness".[23]

gollark: If we can find another member and become an officially recognized cult, we can grow another 100%.
gollark: I mean, sort of, division by zero is undefined and all.
gollark: It grew infinity percent today! INFINITY PERCENT!
gollark: The cult of transistors is the server's fastest-growing cult!
gollark: Without transistors, we would be in the 1950s, approximately!

See also

References
  1. Neu 1991, pp. v–vi, 1–7.
  2. Schorske 1991, pp. 8–24.
  3. Izenberg 1991, pp. 25–43.
  4. Glymour 1991, pp. 44–85.
  5. Hopkins 1991, pp. 86–135.
  6. Gardner 1991, pp. 136–160.
  7. Simon & Blass 1991, pp. 161–174.
  8. Neu 1991, pp. 175–208.
  9. Church 1991, pp. 209–223.
  10. Chodorow 1991, pp. 224–248.
  11. Wollheim 1991, pp. 249–266.
  12. Paul 1991, pp. 267–286.
  13. Deigh 1991, pp. 287–308.
  14. Sachs 1991, pp. 309–338.
  15. Neu 1991, p. iv.
  16. Gilman 1992, pp. 477–478.
  17. Cavell 1994, pp. 902–904.
  18. Groopman 1994, pp. 910–912.
  19. Brook 1993, pp. 43–45.
  20. Badcock 1992, pp. 723–724.
  21. Badcock 1993, pp. 549–550.
  22. Polka 1995, p. 571.
  23. Wilcocks 2000, p. 11.

Bibliography
Books
  • Bennett, Simon; Blass, Rachel B. (1991). "The development and vicissitudes of Freud's ideas on the Oedipus complex". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Chodorow, Nancy (1991). "Freud on women". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Church, Jennifer (1991). "Morality and the internalized other". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Deigh, John (1991). "Freud's later theory of civilization: Changes and implications". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gardner, Sebastian (1991). "The unconscious". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Glymour, Clark (1991). "Freud's androids". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hopkins, James (1991). "The interpretation of dreams". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Izenberg, Gerald N. (1991). "Seduced and abandoned: The rise and fall of Freud's seduction theory". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Neu, Jerome (1991). "Freud and perversion". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Neu, Jerome (1991). "Introduction". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Paul, Robert A. (1991). "Freud's anthropology: A reading of the "cultural books"". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Sachs, David (1991). "In fairness to Freud: A critical notice of The Foundations of Psychoanalysis, by Adolf Grünbaum". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Schorske, Carl E. (1991). "Freud: The psychoarcheology of civilizations". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wilcocks, Robert (2000). Mousetraps and the Moon: The Strange Ride of Sigmund Freud and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis. Lanham: Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-0158-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wollheim, Richard (1991). "Freud and the understanding of art". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37779-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Journals
  • Badcock, Christopher (1993). "The Cambridge Companion to Freud (Book)". British Journal of Sociology. 44 (3). doi:10.2307/591832.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Badcock, Christopher (1992). "The Cambridge Companion to Freud (Book)". Sociology. 26 (4). doi:10.1177/0038038592026004024.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Brook, Andrew (1993). "Jerome Neu, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Freud Reviewed by Andrew Brook". Philosophy in Review. 13 (1).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Cavell, Marcia (1994). "Book reviews". Ethics. 104 (4).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Gilman, Sander (1992). "The Cambridge companion to Freud". Medical History. 36 (4).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Groopman, Leonard (1994). "The Cambridge Companion to Freud". Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 42 (3). doi:10.1177/000306519404200319.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Polka, Brayton (1995). "Book reviews". History of European Ideas. 21 (4).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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