Psychoanalysis and Moral Values

My guess is that a discussion of the relation between moral values and psychoanalysis would have made Sigmund Freud extremely uneasy. Freud never doubted that his ideas were revolutionary and therefore bound to have effects far beyond the understanding and treatment of the neuroses. At times Freud could even thunder like a modern prophet, challenging the values and practices of Western Christendom.

Yet Freud always feared that his empirical discoveries might get swallowed up in mankind’s search for ethical direction. As he aged, his devotion to science grew increasingly pronounced; and as his illness restricted his activities, he drew back somewhat from therapy. After contracting cancer in 1923, Freud never again wrote a cas...