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To be or not to be a Jew? A dilemma of Sigmund Freud?
Author(s) -
DorShav N. Kohn
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1977.tb06681.x
Subject(s) - ambivalence , psychoanalysis , taboo , monotheism , freud's psychoanalytic theories , dilemma , judaism , identity (music) , psychoanalytic theory , jewish identity , ego psychology , totem , theme (computing) , philosophy , psychology , sociology , epistemology , aesthetics , theology , anthropology , islam , computer science , operating system
The paper presents the position that Freud was not torn by the conflict “To be or not to be a Jew” as some have contended, but, rather, that he had resolved upon “to be …”, and did not long to reject his Jewish identity. What is maintained here is that evidence cited in support of supposed ambivalence regarding Jewish identity is better interpreted in terms of Freud's life‐long ambivalence toward his father, his drive to denigrate and destroy him. Evidence is brought that it is his father, rather than himself, whom Freud identifies with the Moses figure ‐ and the consequences of his identification are used to explain both his obsession with the Moses theme and his seeming digressions into Bible‐analysis in “Moses and monotheism”. The latter, which Freud described as a sequel to “Totem and Taboo”, is seen as the acting out of the wish for parricide described in that work.