The Role of the Unconscious in Nietzsche and Freud

An article in a journal called "The Role of the Unconscious in Nietzsche and Freud" by Katrina Mitcheson states the similarities between the idea of social influence in Freud and Nietzsche when she states "Both Freud and Nietzsche recognize the importance of the relationship between individual psychology and social institutions. Freud’s interest is not limited to the individual patient; he is concerned not just with the neurotic, and the specificities of their individual past, but with the pathology of the normal and the common childhood experiences that shape us all. Freud’s "Civilization and Its Discontents" and "Totem and Taboo" attempt to use the insights of psychoanalysis to understand social customs, religion and morality: ‘the study of the psychology of the neurosis is important for an understanding of the growth of civilisation’ (Freud, 1912:73). The analysis of the social taboo is presented as analogous to the phobia of a neurotic; both the individual creation of a neurotic, personal ‘taboo’ and the establishment of shared socially accepted taboos involve the repression, but not complete abolition, of instinctual desires and result in ambivalent attitudes towards the object of taboo. The neurotic endeavours ‘to create by private means what is effected in society by collective effort’ (Freud, 1912:73). " This is just another example of the similarities in their theories.




Freud, Sigmund 1912 (1950) Totem and Taboo, Strachey, James (trans.), London, Routledge.

Mitcheson, Katrina. "The Role of the Unconscious in Nietzsche and Freud." Sussex-Ucu. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://ww.sussex-ucu.org.uk/cspt/documents/issue9-3.pdf>.