The Origins and Groundwork of Psychoanalysis

Abstract

The way in which the mind is interpreted at any given time cannot be studied in a vacuum. If one wishes to gain an understanding of the theories of mind put forward by Aristotle, Plato, and Democritus, for instance, it helps to know something about the Athenian political and cultural landscape in which those philosophers flourished. Moreover, it is also not possible to view the variety of approaches to interpretation without taking into account other historical trends, especially in science. In periods characterized by groundbreaking scientific advances, it is not surprising to find a renewed interest in psychological interpretation. The invention of telescopes and microscopes allowed scientists to see worlds that had hitherto been unknown to them. So they naturally assumed that the mysteries of the mind could be similarly opened up. In some epochs, the theories of the mind based on physiological models enjoyed favor, while in others more attention was given to the patient’s subjective experience and observations. Cultural and educational traditions also exerted an influence on how the mind is viewed and interpreted; thus, it was inevitable that a European import like psychoanalysis would undergo a dramatic transformation once it made the crossing to America. All that said, it is still possible to ask why the whole idea of investigating the mind – and why such an enterprise was even considered worth pursuing – took hold in one place and not in another. Specifically, why Germany in the nineteenth century?