Kudaev, A. E. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis of Culture

Abstract: The article is devoted to one of the most important problems of Sigmund Freud’s research – psychoanalytical theory of culture. The author of the present article reconstructs the main basic provisions of Freud’s theory and analyzes the relation between psychoanalysis and culture, definition of culture and grounds of culture and, finally, the origin of culture. Sigmund Freud believed that only by appealing to our sources we can actually understand the unconsciousness of culture. In his research the author has used research methods of psychoanalysis, cultural research, philosophy, studies of religion and history. All that created the historical-philosophical and psychoanalytical-cultural methodology. Peculiarities of the material studied has also made the author to apply phenomenological, hermeneutic and comparative approaches to understanding these phenomena. The scientific novelty of the article is in the author’s reconstruction of the basic provisions of Freud’s psychoanalysis of culture. Despite all the importance and significance of this problem, Freud did not leave us a well established theory of culture. He did not write a particular research work which would be devoted to psychoanalysis of culture and include all his provisions and evaluations on the matter. Therefore, Freud’s psychoanalytical concept of culture can be presented only in a form of reconstruction. This is the purpose of the present article.

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