Freud and the Figure of Moses: The Moses of Freud

Moses was a lifelong preoccupation of Freud, representing a double and idealized self and object. Freud identified with different aspects of Moses during different periods of development, from concrete hero to abstract ideal. He turned to Moses in the concluding phase of his relationship with Fliess...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 1991-01, Vol.39 (2), p.513-535
Main Author: Blum, Harold, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied psychoanalysis. Miscellaneous
Bible
Biological and medical sciences
Freud, Sigmund
Freudian Theory
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Object Attachment
Personality Development
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalytic Interpretation
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Religion and Psychology
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Summary:Moses was a lifelong preoccupation of Freud, representing a double and idealized self and object. Freud identified with different aspects of Moses during different periods of development, from concrete hero to abstract ideal. He turned to Moses in the concluding phase of his relationship with Fliess and his self–analysis, and then at other times of crisis. The Moses recreated by Freud is important to the evolution of the concepts of the superego, and his Moses studies simultaneously illuminate the developmental significance of internalization, identification, and abstract symbolic thought. Latently autobiographical, the Moses motif is related to the analysis of unconscious conflict and trauma and to issues of Jewish identity and analytic ideals.
ISSN:0003-0651
1941-2460
DOI:10.1177/000306519103900210