A farewell to Freud: The Frankfurt School and psychoanalysis.

摘要

Founded in 1923, the Frankfurt School developed a multi-disciplinary critique of modern enlightenment thought and capitalism and later, following the rise of Adolf Hitler, the fascism of the Third Reich.;With their multi-disciplinary character and poignant critique of enlightenment thought, the Frankfurt School did not tether itself exclusively to orthodox Marxism or its pursuit of a materialistic and scientific critique of modern capitalism and ideology. Among the contemporaries that would figure prominently in their critical project was the father of psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud. While Freud's psychoanalytic theory proved to be an important element to the Institute's work, especially his theses in Civilization and Its Discontents, the Frankfurt theorists incorporated both the strengths and weaknesses of the theory.;It is in this context that I propose the incorporation of the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow. Emancipated from its history of use by "human relations theorists" to perpetuate the very domination that the Frankfurt School denounced, a rereading of Maslow's theory, primarily Motivation and Personality, with all of its critical components intact, will deliver a greater explanatory power to political philosophy and a better formula for radical political action. Further, I will argue that Maslow's theory acts as the sought after bridge between the Frankfurt School and the work of utopian Marxist Ernst Bloch.