The Role of Sigmund Freud in Science

Sigismund Schlomo Freud was born May 6, 1856 and he died September 23, 1939. He was a Jewish-Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist. Who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Best known for his theories of the unconscious mind pertaining to repression. A redefinition of sexual desires, and the analysis of dreams as they relate to unconscious desires, Freud’s theories however outdated have become an inherent part of western popular culture. Freud’s childhood was tainted with anti-Semitic encounters in Austria. During his first eight years of schooling. He did remarkably well in school, but it was eventually the anti-Semitic attitudes in Austria that would force him to go to the University in Vienna. After this move, his grades would plummet. While at the University Freud is noted as saying he stood apart from his collogues due to his Jewishness. Freud admits to feeling alienated at this time. He later would look upon this time as a period of developing think skin, of which he claims his good friend and mentor Josef Breuer was deprived. He specifically refers to Breuer’s lack self confidence and powers of resistance, when he was unable to follow Freud in his research into studying the sexual origins of the neuroses. Freud’s view of Breuer was that the older man fell short of his own standards of intellectual courage and stamina (23). He was not hesitant to publicly voice his opinion on this matter either, which led both men to having a falling out. This would not be the first time that Freud would end a friendship over a professional disagreement, or even a personal misunderstanding. It became a tradition in Freud’s life that the passion he felt for his ideals would lead him to burning bridges.

In Madelon Sprengnether’s essay, Reading Freud’s Life, she analyses in depth the nature of Freud’s interpersonal relationships, specifically his relationships with women. As she points out, Freud was significantly guarded about his personal life and went so far as to have many of his journals which he deemed inappropriate for his legacy burned. He did this for fear that when his biography did get written it would undoubtedly be a false rendition of his life. He further elaborates on this concept when he explains why he burnt many of his records saying “I couldn’t have matured or died without worrying about who would get hold of those old papers. Everything, moreover, that lies beyond the great turning point in my life, beyond our love and my choice of a profession, died long ago and must not be deprived of a worthy funeral. As for the biographers, let them worry, we have no desire to make it too easy for them. Each of them will be right in his opinion of ‘The Development of the Hero,’ and I am already looking forward to seeing them go astray” (E. Freud 1975, 141).

Freud believed that biographies by nature demanded their authors to lie, to sugar coat the truth. From this perspective, all biographies are inauthentic; and Freud further argued, that if they did tell the truth, they wouldn’t be capable of being published. Already notorious for his lack of faith in mankind, here we see Freud’s distrust goes far enough for him to hide details of his personal life from the public, for fear of how they might mismanage the information. This maintained a mysterious quality about Freud, while at the same time permitted him to be one of the most internationally public figures. Freud’s distrust of the human nature inherent in the public, as well as his attempts to shape and control his public image through deception is a combination of neuroticism and conscientiousness. Though Freud is being deceptive in this circumstance, it is no different from the tactics carried out by many celebrities today in the hopes of maintaining their images. It is only natural that a public figure will have to maintain a certain image in the public arena, and the social expectations to which Freud was subjected were much more ridged during his era. Sprengnether goes on to further point out that even when Freud did write an autobiography, he kept the focus of the confessional entirely on his professional career (1995). Anything that did not pertain to the development of his psychoanalytical techniques was exempt from the memoir. This makes for a very vague understanding of Sigmund Freud as a man. To attain a more in-depth perspective of Freud’s personality, Sprengnether analyzes the private letters he kept,” I want to try out a biographical approach that unauthorizes Freud, one, that is to say, which not only displaces Freud as the author of his own self-portrait, but which also questions his theoretical mastery or authority” (Sprengnether, 1995). Here it is made clear that Sprengnether acknowledges Freuds acclaim and genius, but she also realizes that some of that persona could have been constructed as a result of Freud’s on personal egotism; and to truly asses this fine line, she must evaluate Freud from a objective and un-bias opinion. Sprengnether does not disregard that there is a certain methodology to which she must adhere when she does this analysis of Freud. She establishes this when she says, “…in order to do this, I will focus on relatively private (yet readily available) kinds of evidence, chiefly Freud’s letters to his adolescent friend Eduard Silberstein (Boehlich 1990) and his published letters to his fiancée Martha (E. Freud 1975) during the period of their engagement” (Sprengnether, 1995). What Sprengnether refers to as an unauthorized account of Freud’s personal life actually turns out to be a very revealing analysis. He argues that these early years that Freud experienced happened before he had established the popular fixed image of himself. The most intriguing aspect of uncovering the truth within Freud’s extraverted and confident persona is to see how vulnerable and shy he is when interacting with those for whom he cares the most.

Freud kept correspondence with his good friend Silberstein for ten years. From the time that he was fifteen until he was twenty-five years old, the two wrote to each other. In their teens, they learned Spanish together and wrote to each other in a coded language they developed based on an episode in Cerantes’ Don Quixote. There is a point in one of his letters to Silberstein that he professes his unbridled obsession with their conversations, and his frustration with the slowness of the mail service. When he requests that Silberstein evaluate and keep track of his days more thoroughly, in the fashion of an Encyclopedia, Freud’s friend begins to slowly part ways. The core aspect of Freud’s love of his conversations with Silberstein can be found in the freedom provided by the secrecy of their correspondence. In one of the letters Freud informs him, “not to let these notes fall into anyone’s hands’ if he wishes to retain Freud’s trust” (Sprengnether 1995, p.12). He goes on to say, “I trust you do not show my letters to anyone… because I want to be able to write with complete candor and about whatever comes into my head” (Sprengnether 1995, p.24). Often when Silberstein would be conservative with his writing, and hold back, Freud would reprimand him. Freud desire for openness in his conversations with Silberstein can directly be correlated to an example of being open to new experiences. Freud wanted to experience something he had never felt before in the sense of what a matured friendship brings, specifically one in which time and effort has been devoutly invested. Though his circumstance with Silberstein has homoerotic connotations, he genuinely seeks friendship and delves deeply into all of its social intricacies. This aspect of Freud’s personality also enforces his extraverted nature in the fact that he is being domineering in his relationship with Silberstein, and inappropriately affectionate at times. All of this on the behalf of Freud is done to develop an intimate relationship. Since Freud’s main goal is to be able develop meaningful relationships, and the inability to do so opposes the ideals inherent in the extraverted persona, the very fact that this is Freud’s main focus signifies his nature as an extravert. Similar to his interactions with Silberstein, Freud also wrote of his very telling encounters with romantic partners.

The majority of all of Freud’s psychological inadequacies when dealing with women can be summed in the letters he wrote to Martha Bernays during their relationship together. All of the conflict that developed in his relationship with Martha stem from a deep anxiety about intimacy. This is a problem that is first very recognizable in his relationship with Silberstein. His anxieties manifest themselves in his difficulty to express his desires, which is seen when constantly acknowledges that he is shy, and then in his fear of being manipulated or betrayed once he has given his trust. An example of Freud’s erratic emotional condition concerning intimacy can be seen in the following words he wrote to Martha, “I really think I have always loved you much more than you me, or more correctly: until we were separated you hadn’t surmounted the primum falsum of our love–as a logician would call it–i.e., that I forced myself upon you and you accepted me without any great affection’ Do you remember how you often used to tell me that I had a talent for repeatedly provoking your resistance? How we were always fighting, and you would never give in to me? We were two people who diverged in every detail of life and who were yet determined to love each other” (Sprengnether 1995, p.24).

If one were not told in advance, they may never imagine these words were written by Sigmund Freud. This distinguished scholar known for making some of the boldest psychoanalyzed arguments, here is no more than a distraught man with a broken heart. Freud’s attempts to form an intimate relationship with Martha by contributing all of his energy, backfires and manifests itself as the very rejection he anxiously tried to avoid. Freud clearly acknowledges that Martha has absolutely all of the control in the relationship. This is ironic considering that this is a man who claims control over his public persona, professional legacy, and rank in psychoanalysis. Every aspect of Freud’s life outside of his relationships with those closest to him would make him seem like a neurotic extrovert; but here, it is clear that Freud has very strong aspects of agreeableness with regards to women. This relationship with Martha had a lasting effect on Freud throughout his life. He has always viewed women as the one problem he could never solve.

In his essay, On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement, Freud credits his self-analysis as the factor that rescued him from uncertainty surrounding the correctness of analytical techniques. This does not disregard the complexity involved in self-analysis. In a letter to his Friend Wilhelm Fliess, Freud wrote on how he felt bogged down in his path towards analyzing himself. In the note he states, “myself-analysis is still interrupted, and I have realized the reason. “I can only analyze myself with the help of knowledge obtained objectively (like an outsider). Genuine self-analysis is impossible; otherwise there would be no [neurotic] illness” (Masson 1985, 281). Here Freud realizes that one cannot have neurosis if they are truly able to look at themselves objectively. There very essence of a neurotic is of one who is self-obsessed, or at least very self-conscious. Based on much of Sigmund Freud’s back history it is undeniable that he has high factors of Neuroticism and extraversion in his personality. This is most evident when assessing some of his most quoted statements, like “A certain degree of neurosis is of inestimable value as a drive, especially to a psychologist” (Masson 1985, 281). Here Freud admits to having feelings of anxiety which is a direct characteristic of neuroticism. This also made it very difficult for him to carry out his self-analysis, due to the fact that he was by all means a neurotic. His self-righteous method of presenting what he deems as the profound is also an example of his extraverted need for praise or admiration. It is undeniable that part Freud’s distinguished persona is of his own construction. When he found himself parting ways with his mentor Breurer at the University in Vienna, it was of his own discretion

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