Frédéric Declercq – Freud’s Scientism and its Impact on the Analysis of the Wolf-Man
 
THE LETTER 27 (Spring 2003) pages 32-42
 
The scientific-political dimension of the case of the Wolf-man
 
Right from the start, the Wolf-man’s analysis has a political dimension. In Freud’s eyes, the primary significance of this analysis, is that it proves the importance of infantile sexuality in the aetiology of neurosis, – something which is denied by Jung and Adler.
 
It [The case study of the Wolf-man] shows the predominant part that is played in the formation of neuroses by those libidinal motive forces which are so eagerly disavowed [by Jung], and reveals the absence of any aspirations towards remote cultural aims [Adler], of which the child still knows nothing, and which cannot therefore be of any significance for him.
 
According to Adler, neurosis has nothing to do with infantile sexuality but with the failure of one’s subjective project due to cultural factors.