Summary & Questions

Herzog (2016) traces the lineage of German psychoanalytsts during the Cold War and their attempts to re-introduce psychoanalysis into cultural and scientific debates in their home country. Herzog pays particular attention to the work of Lorenz and Mitscherlich and their writings post-WWII. While sex was an integral and salient element to discourse on psychoanalysis, the focus of these theorists was more explicitly concerned with explaining aggression.  “Although the topic of sex did ultimately reenter the West German debate about aggression as well, the main emphasis of the controversies remained on the subject of aggression itself” (124). Therefore, this chapter mostly covers the psychoanalytic debates on aggression in the late 20th century (Cold War years) and its relation to a post-Nazi German society.  Ultimately, this writing is a reminder of the contextual and socio-political influences which enter into psychoanalytic thinking, and more broadly academic theories. For who and what purpose are psychological and epistemological theories developed?