ABSTRACT
I have argued that tensions between positivistic tendencies and countertendencies toward open-system thinking appear throughout Freud’s work. One important manifestation of these tensions appears in the early attempts to establish a definitive explanatory model for neurotic disturbances. As he pursues these concerns, Freud reflects on the representational dimensions of human experience, as well as on disruptions in subjective experience and development. These interconnected issues provide more than a test case for delineating key points of creative tension in Freud’s metapsychology. Permutations of these themes (representational forms, trauma, subjective formation) appear repeatedly in his writings on religion and culture. The problem of trauma, in addition to indicating how Freud’s inquiries exceed the scope of a positivistic paradigm, also provides a thematic point of departure for larger psycho-cultural issues.
