'I am reading the history of religion': a contribution to the knowledge of Freud's building of a theory

Could Reinach’s Cultes, mythes et religions (1908) have served as a model for the theory of religion that Freud was later to put forward in Totem and Taboo (1913)? This hypothesis has been tested by examining Freud’s marginalia in his personal copy of Cultes, mythes et religions. In this way it is possible to reconstitute the line of thinking that led Freud to declare, in late summer 1911, that he had found an answer to the question of the origins of tragic guilt and religious sentiment.

Source: History of Psychiatry - May 19, 2014 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Cotti, P. Tags: Articles Source Type: research