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Interprefactions: Freud's legendary science

University of Washington

Sonu Shamdasani

History of Medicine at UCL, University of London, s.shamdasani{at}ucl.ac.uk

In this article we introduce an argument developed in Borch-Jacobsen and Shamdasani (2006). We attempt to draw some consequences from several decades of work in Freud history. We argue that such work has had the cumulative effect of showing up the legendary nature of Freud's epistemology, and has demonstrated the direct linkages between his interpretive procedures and rewriting of history. The Freud legend was by no means a supplementary accessory which accompanied substantive advances, akin to the legend of Newton's apple: rather, it was constitutive of the very identity of psychoanalysis, and enabled its differentiation from rival psychologies and psychotherapies, and promoted the claim that it formed the only viable science of mind and the most advanced form of psychotherapy. Historical research enables one to grasp the legendary nature of Freud's achievement.

Key Words: Sigmund Freud • interprefaction • interpretation • psychoanalysis • unconscious

History of the Human Sciences, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1-25 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0952695108093951


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