Reading Freud Anew

Abstract

Howard Kaye offers an important and compelling demonstration of Freud’s continued signifcance as a cultural and social theorist. Kaye provides a deep reading of several important texts of Freud, responds to many of his interlocutors, and he situates him within the political, intellectual and social context of his time. He demonstrates the breadth of Freud’s ambition to transform “metaphysics into metapsychology” and his contribution to on-going ethical and moral debates of our time. Nonetheless, Kaye inadequately considers the on-going significance of psychoanalysis as a method of psychological treatment and as an emancipatory practice designed to liberate individuals from unnecessary self-imposed contraints interfering with their freedom and happiness.