The Role of Tradition in Concealing and Grounding Truth: Two Opposing Freudian Legacies on Truth and Tradition

The classic Freudian view of truth regards tradition negatively as that which, on the basis of unwarranted authority, blinds us to a realistic perception of the world. However, implicit in Freud's writings there is another, very different view of truth. The latter view regards tradition as the ground of truth, that which inevitably shapes human perception of the world and determines it ethical value. Through an examination of Freud's Totem and Taboo (1913), the relations between this alternative view of truth and tradition and that of Freud's classic view are explored and understood as a legacy that impacts contemporary psychoanalysis.