ABSTRACT
Freud thinks we have reached an historic epoch in which we can simply see that his analysis is true. If we look to individual development, Freud says, we see that a person develops through psychological stages. In particular, the inevitable Oedipal crisis of childhood is eventually outgrown, and falls away. ‘In just the same way,’ he says, ‘one might assume, humanity as a whole, in its development through the ages, fell into states analogous to the neuroses, and for the same reasons.’
