Freudarwin: Evolutionary Thinking as a Root of Psychoanalysis

Abstract

This essay synthesizes the place of biological evolutionism in the early history of psychoanalysis, and shows the implicit significance of German Darwinism in Sigmund Freud’s whole psychoanalytical works. In particular, Freud, together with Sándor Ferenczi (1873–1933), applied to mental disorders hypotheses inspired by August Pauly’s (1850–1914) psychological Lamarckism and Ernst Heckel (1834–1919) theory of recapitulation. Both of these theories rested upon the principle of inheritance of acquired characteristics, and were disproved by biological discoveries during the interwar period. However, despite these scientific progresses, Freud never gave up his idea of inherited unconscious memories, and we try here to sketch out what would have cost him a renunciation to such outdated biological principles. Notwithstanding, Sigmund Freud was the first to elaborate on evolutionary causes of mental syndromes, which makes of him the forerunner of current neo-Darwinian psychopathology, with few continuators to date within the psychoanalytic field. Nowadays, the extended neo-Darwinian synthesis and affective neuroscience may pave the way for a rational Darwinian approach to human mental disorders, which would take into account the whole neurological and psychological evolution of species, and be centered on emotions and their vicissitudes.

Psychology: a Giant with Feet of Clay

“…Finally, integrative attempts have been made with psychoanalysis as well (e.g Nesse, 1990;Walters, 1994;. Migon e & Liotti, 1998;Marcaggi & Guénolé, 2018) …”

A portrait of the neurophysiologist as a young man: Claus, Darwin, and Sigmund Freud’s search for the testes of the eel (1875–1877).

“…It is worth noting that the earliest signs of Freud’s serious interest in the evolutionary ideas of either Haeckel or Lamarck did not emerge in his work until 1899 at the earliest (Marcaggi & Guénolé, 2018, pp. 3–4) 17 .…”

“…Freud himself placed the significance of psychoanalysis in the history of human knowledge at a level comparable with Darwinism, while also recognizing Darwin as a primary inspiration (Freud, 1916, p. 324). Despite this, scholarship has generally emphasized the role of neo-Lamarckian or Haeckelian influences in the legacy of Freud’s evolutionary thought (Marcaggi & Guénolé, 2018, p. 4) 2 . This is largely due to an understandable emphasis on Freud’s later psychoanalytic work.…”

“…Much has been made about the role of evolutionary thinking in the development of Freudian psychoanalysis. The case has even been made that ‘nowhere was the impact of Darwin […] more exemplary or fruitful outside of biology proper than within Freudian psychoanalysis’, with Freud, at times, being recognized as the central progenitor of modern evolutionary psychopathology (de Block, 2005; Marcaggi & Guénolé, 2018; Sulloway, 1979, p. 275) 1 . Freud himself placed the significance of psychoanalysis in the history of human knowledge at a level comparable with Darwinism, while also recognizing Darwin as a primary inspiration (Freud, 1916, p. 324).…”

Contemporary psychoanalytic account of gender and sexual diversity in the theory of Jean Laplanche

“…Freud uzasadniał istnienie biologicznie uwarunkowanych, w trakcie rozwoju po kolei wypieranych, etapów rozwoju seksualnego, przekonaniem, że ontogeneza odtwarza filogenezę. Innymi słowy, wydarzenia z prehistorii gatunku ludzkiego miały według Freuda mieć przełożenie na kolejność przyjmowania i porzucania form seksualności w rozwoju dziecka [17]. psychoanalitycznej z powodu niechęci do przyznawania seksualności centralnej roli heurystycznej [19], a w latach dwudziestych Otto Rank został propagatorem idei analizy tu i teraz, nakierowanej na emocje pojawiające się w gabinecie terapeutycznym.…”