Folks:
What I wanted to ask the members to address is the usefulness (or lack thereof) of the theories proposed by Freud in understanding their own personal lives. As is so often the case, the ground shifts to ideology, and the discussion of the merit of the theories per se is driven to the background. Why this is the case with Freud and Jung (and, interestingly, with Heidegger)and not, for example, with most great artists or writers (where we are much more likely to separate their work from their personal life, condemn their individual pecadilloes but focus our critical acumen on their timeless productions) is beyond me. Why, e.g., should the soundness of Heidegger's theories of authenticity and resoluteness be compromised in any way by the fact that he failed to exhibit either trait in his dalliance with the Nazis?
Gauguin is a perfect example: he was clearly a sexist, he abandoned his family and all other worldly responsibilities and ran off to the islands, and yet his work is not simply dismissed for his moral terpitude.
Dan
*
*
Film-Philosophy Email Discussion Salon.
After hitting 'reply' please always delete the text of the message you are replying to.
To leave, send the message: leave film-philosophy to: [log in to unmask]
For help email: [log in to unmask], not the salon.
**
|