Searching Buddha

"Where do emotions like love and friendship exist in Freud's world?"

I would like to discuss this as well. I suppose that friendship is a convoluted topic for Freud since we were informed during class that his friendships often turnd into awkward parental relationships that caused his friends to flee.
Topics such as love and friendship are not mentioned by him, but perhaps the fact that they are not mentioned says more to the reader.

Actually, Freud is interested in both love and friendship -- and even in The Interpretation of Dreams spends quite a bit of time on the subject of friendship, if not love. He discusses love in other works, as one of the primary drives for human beings.

All this said, you are right that Freud's view of the human animal starts is so adamantly material--focused on us as organisms--that he can seem to reduce some of our most cherished ideas and experiences to mechanistic drives.

As for the feminist question--I do think it's fair to call Freud on it, even if he was living and writing in another era. After all, there were feminists long before Freud wrote. Also, the problems with Freud and women also overlap with problems with Freud and his patients generally. He tends to reduce their complex psyches to suit his own theoretical preconceptions. With regard to women, this can become particularly convoluted. But anybody who's every read his "Rat Man" or "Wolf Man" cases will see that he's just as likely to do i with men. These cases, by the way, include fascinating dreams and would make an interesitng research project.

I agree with you - Freud's attitudes towards women are hardly flattering. But then again, I think Freud's attitude toward people in general are hardly flattering, such as the way he is always insisting he's right.

I also asked myself the same wuestion that you did. Someone needs to psychoanalyze Freud! The bottom line here is that he's reaching many times and we have to be able to discern the times he does so and when he does not. Most of the time he's just trying to give his theories validity, so we must take this with a grain of salt. However, I sure would like to get him on a "Shrink Couch" and see what made him tick, so to speak.