#107 Frederick Crews: Why Freud is a Fraud
I’M SORRY FOR THE VIDEO BEING A BIT DESYNCHRONIZED. IT MUST HAVE BEEN SOME SORT OF RECORDING ISSUE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
Dr. Frederick Crews is an American essayist and literary critic, and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Berkeley. Also, a prominent participant in the “Freud wars” of the 1980s and 1990s, a debate over the reputation, scholarship and impact on the 20th century of the founder of psychoanalysis, Freud. He’s the author of many books, including the ones that are relevant to our conversation today, The Memory Wars: Freud’s Legacy in Dispute, and Freud: The Making of an Illusion.
In this episode, we talk about how and why Dr. Crews decided to turn against Freud’s psychological theories, and his role against the Recovered Memory Therapy movement in the 80’s and 90’s, and the idea of repressed memories. We then move on to talk about Freud’s personality, and what led him to adopt a pseudoscientific academic approach. We cover some of his medical work and his main theories, like hysteria, the Oedipus Complex, dream analysis, and his organization of the unconscious. Finally, we discuss psychoanalysis in general, and if it is today something resembling a science at least.
Time Links:
When Dr. Crews turned against Freud
The Recovered Memory Therapy movement
Freud’s personality
Freud’s theoretical approach
Freud’s work on cocaine
The origins of hysteria
Hysteria and the Oedipus Complex
About dream analysis
Did Freud really discover the unconscious?
Deleterious effects of Freud’s practice on his patients
Is psychoanalysis scientific nowadays?
Why are Freud’s theories so intellectually appealing?
Follow Dr. Crews’ work
Follow Dr. Crews’ work:
Books: https://tinyurl.com/ybyhfbjh
Freud: The Making of an Illusion: https://tinyurl.com/y9dwsbuw