Sigmund Freud

"The first Norton Critical Edition of Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents features an annotated version of James Strachey's authoritative translation. Freud's landmark work explores the tension between society and its individuals and is considered critical in the development of the field of modern psychology. In addition to the translated text, the Norton Critical Edition of Civilization and Its Discontents includes a "Commentaries" section,...

Beyond the Pleasure Principle, published in 1920, by world-renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud, marks a major turning point in the author's theoretical approach. Prior to this work, Freud's examination of the forces that drive people focused primarily on the sexual drive, or Eros of man, the life instinct to reproduce that is innate in all humans. Freud had attributed most of human behavior to the seeking of sexual pleasure. In reasoned progression...

In “The Future of an Illusion”, Freud's psychoanalysis of religion is the culmination of a lifelong thought pattern. Freud examines human nature and the role of religion in society, proclaiming that human instincts are destructive to civilization and must be restrained to maintain an orderly society. Religion, viewed as a set of false beliefs based on human desires, manifests as a God-like father figure to a helpless child, whose survival is dependent...

In this work, Freud describes psychological mechanisms at work within mass movements. A mass, according to Freud, is a 'temporary entity, consisting of heterogeneous elements that have joined together for a moment.' He refers to the writings of sociologist and psychologist Gustave Le Bon, summarizing his work at the beginning of the book.

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Sigmund Freud once described his essay on Leonardo da Vinci as the most beautiful thing he ever wrote. In Leonardo da Vinci, of course, he had as his subject not just an ordinary Italian painter, but the prototype of the universal genius, the "Renaissance man," the creator of some of the most beautiful, familiar, yet mysterious paintings of all time. Today, almost...

A pivotal work in the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud, "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality" puts forth many of the foundational ideas that make up Freud's influential theories on sexuality. Freud builds upon his theories of the unconscious that he introduced in "The Interpretation of Dreams" in 1899 and argues that the unconscious mind plays a significant role in sexual behavior and that sexual experiences are a driving force in the development...

Between 1915 and 1917, Sigmund Freud delivered a series of well-received lectures at the University of Vienna on his theories of psychoanalysis. Nine of them focused on Freud's theories about dreams-what they are and what they mean. The content of these lectures are presented in Dreams.Freud covered a lot of ground in his lectures, focusing first on the general difficulties involved in studying dreams, then on the many aspects of dream interpretation,...