The place of psychoanalysis in the history of the Jews.
Situating psychoanalysis in the context of Jewish history, this paper takes up Freud's famous 1930 question: what is left in Judaism after one has abandoned faith in God, the Hebrew language and nationalism, and his answer: a great deal, perhaps the very essence, but an essence that we do not know. On the one hand, it argues that "not knowing" connects psychoanalysis to Judaism's ancestral preoccupation with God, a preoccupation different from that of the more philosophical Greek, Latin and Christian traditions of theology. On the other hand, "not knowing" connects psychoanalysis to a post-Enlightenment conception of the person (i.e. of personal life), as opposed to the more abstract notion of the subject associated with Kant.
New School for Social Research, New York City
Eli
E
Zaretsky
D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005061:Europe, Eastern / Q000208:ethnology; D005619:Freudian Theory / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007585:Jews / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D007599:Judaism / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D011287:Prejudice; D024382:Professional Role / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012922:Social Change / Q000266:history; D012933:Social Identification; D028725:Theology / Q000193:education / Q000266:history