Kantianism and Psychoanalysis

Both Emmanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer, his disciple and interpreter, had a profound influence on psychoanalysis, although their underlying theories sometimes need to be differentiated. Just as important, however, is the fact that psychoanalysis can be considered an avatar of Kantianism, if not of metaphysics in general.

References to Kant appear in Freud's work in three different contexts:

1. Freud presents Kant's "categorical imperative" as the "inheritor of the Oedipus complex." 2. Freud contested the universal and...