On Freud

This is a perfectly adequate introduction to Freud and his approach to psychoanalysis. It traces the development of his thought around a few key themes, and the structure makes good sense. Its real strength is the author’s recognition that Freud built a whole system of thought rather than merely a medicalized treatment of neurosis — which may have been Freud’s own aim. His interests weren’t really in therapeutic practice but in exploring larger ideas through his patients; he was, I think, too interested in the world beyond medicine. Freud can insist all he likes that he has no interest in philosophy; it doesn’t stop him from being a philosopher.

The author keeps trying to assess Freud’s interventions against more contemporary trends in psychoanalysis, and from that angle Freud matters for inventing the field but his work is flawed at best. Still, it’s interesting, and that’s all I really care about.