Freud proposed the theory of the Oedipal Complex. Where did he get the idea? Why did it become so popular?
In this talk to his Beijing high school students, Jiang Xueqin explains that Freud developed his psychological theories in order to protect the interests of the powerful.
His protege Carl Jung would take Freud’s theory of the unconscious, and turn it into a systemic model of human psychology. Because of modernist literature and art, this “cult of the self” has permeated throughout the entire culture, becoming the air we breathe.
This has led to devastating social consequences, especially among the young.
References:
1. Aetiology of Hysteria by Sigmund Freud
2. Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
3. Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud
4. The Assault on Truth by Jeffrey Masson
5. Ulysses by James Joyce
6. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
