Some Aspects of Terry Eagleton’s Use of Freudian Psychoanalysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/tn.v5i2.24463Keywords:
Terry Eagleton, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Work, Love, ReasonAbstract
This paper looks at Terry Eagleton’s engagement with Freudian psychoanalysis. We start by looking at Eagleton’s increasing interest in psychoanalysis in the late 1970s, particularly in “Marx, Freud and Morality” (1977). We then move on to three crucial topics that Eagleton tackles by resorting to psychoanalysis: work, love and reason. In each of these three cases we present the ways in which Eagleton posits psychoanalysis as a plausible complement to Marxism, even where their compatibility is not immediately evident. Our reading is intended to be descriptive; however, it does not shy away from pointing out the inconsistencies that we have found in Eagleton’s use and assessment of psychoanalysis. In the case of work, we address the relevance of Freud’s view of it as inherently unpleasant in connection with the Marxian concept of alienated labour. Regarding love, we discuss Eagleton’s focus on love understood as agape rather than on the Freudian conception of love as eros. As far as reason is concerned, we deal with Freud’s faith in the intellect and in science as the sole safeguards of humankind against the assaults of the superego.
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