Freud the Humanist

For the most part, the work of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, is fundamentally orientated towards infantile sexuality and the therapy of neurotic people. But we often forget that a large part of Freud's work was about recognising that barbarism is present in civilisation and that the most murderous and destructive impulses are part of mankind. The most important application of psychoanalysis should therefore concern the social pathologies: the rise of fundamentalisms, fanaticism and violence. Through his exploration of the powers of hatred, Freud seeks to discover the genuine bond which can unite mankind.