Sigmund Freud and the Jewish Mystical Tradition Paperback

2024 Reprint of the 1958 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In this pioneering work, David Bakan challenges the popular view of Freud as an entirely secular intellectual, schooled in modern culture rather than Jewish traditions. Bakan contends that the father of psychology was profoundly influenced by mystic lore about which he appeared to know very little -- and which represents the antithesis of scientific method.

This work is based on the premise that Freudian psychoanalytic theory is largely rooted in the Jewish religion, particularly the mysticism of the kabbala. In a fascinating interpretation of the blend of personality and cultural history, Bakan explains how Freud's Jewish heritage contributed, either consciously or unconsciously, to his psychological theories. The author employs Freud's own distinction between being a Jew and the acceptance of Jewish doctrine to demonstrate the effect of Jewish mysticism in the formation of Freud's technical genius.With its focus on the ways in which Freud was and was not Jewish, this study offers a model example of the problem of Jewish identity -- as embodied by one of the giants of modern science, who professed to be both "infidel" and "Jew."

Contents: The problem of the origins of psychoanalysis -- Hypotheses relating the origins of psychoanalysis to Freud's personal life -- Psychoanalysis as a problem in the history of ideas -- Anti-semitism in Vienna -- The general question of dissimulation -- Did Freud ever dissemble? -- Freud's positive identification as a Jew -- Freud's relationship to Fliess and his other Jewish associates -- Early Kabbala -- Modern Kabbala -- The Zohar -- The Chmielnicki period -- Jewish self-government -- The Sabbatian episode -- The Frankist episode -- Chassidism -- The Moses of Michelangelo -- Some relevant biographical items -- Moses and Monotheism -- a book of double content -- Moses as an Egyptian -- Moses was killed by the Jews -- Freud's messianic identification -- Introduction -- The transition -- The hypnosis and cocaine episodes -- The discovery of the transference -- The "Flectere ..." of the interpretation of dreams -- Freud's paper on demoniacal possession -- The composition of the interpretation of dreams -- Accretion of meanings to the devil image -- The problem of scholarship -- Techniques of interpretation -- Sexuality -- Heimlichkeit.