Pathoanalysis of Existence and the Study of Religion – An Unfinished Freudian Project

Abstract

In this article, I argue that Freud's interest in extraordinary cultural phenomena such as religion and art can be understood from the idea that psychoanalysis is fundamentally a pathoanalysis of human existence. In his earlier writings on hysteria and the theory of sexuality, Freud points out that the study of the psychopathologies is the best and maybe only way to understand the psychic life of human beings and consequently of a specific group of cultural products that cannot only be explained in functional terms. It is also argued, however, that Freud never fully explored to the full potential of this pathoanalytic approach to cultural phenomena, because of the increasing domination of the Oedipus complex and a developmental perspective in his theories. In the final section of this article, the potential of a pathoanalysis of religion is further explored and offered as a promising field of research.

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