Darwin, Freud, and the Continuing Misrepresentation of the Primal Horde

• Autores: Richard J. Smith
• Localización: Current anthropology: A world journal of the sciences of man, ISSN 0011-3204, Vol. 57, Nº. 6, 2016, págs. 838-843
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Sigmund Freud developed his evolutionary theory for the origin of the Oedipus complex in Totem and Taboo, published in 1913. This complex scenario, involving what Freud called �the primal crime� and its subsequent phylogenetic consequences, incorporated theories from a number of sources, including Charles Darwin. Freud claimed to have found in Darwin a proposal for the structure for early human social organization. Since then, �Darwin�s primal horde� has endured in a variety of literatures that build on Freud�s work. In this essay, �Darwin�s primal horde� is reevaluated from the standpoint of Darwin�s writing. Darwin�s words were taken out of context and exaggerated. The primal horde is a concept that Darwin would not recognize, that he did not propose, and that misrepresents what he wrote. It is Freud�s construction, not Darwin�s. Modern authors should not cite Darwin when discussing �Darwin�s primal horde.�