Psychology and the Soul: A Study of the Origin, Conceptual Evolution, and Nature of the Soul

by Rank, Otto

• ISBN13: 9780801872372
• ISBN10: 0801872375
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-01
• Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV PRESS

Summary

In his last years, Otto Rank turned his lifetime of thought and learning toward two of the most difficult topics in human history: religion and the soul. The result was this now-classic work, available in this new, very accessible English translation. Unlike many other intellectuals of the twentieth century, Rank maintains a place for the soul rather than dismissing it as a fantasy. The soul and the beliefs about it, he argues, set forth the foundation for psychology, with its complex analyses of consciousness, self-consciousness, and personality. Rank's commentary is not limited to beliefs about individual souls but includes ideas about group souls, sometimes encompassing nations or generations. Rank suggests that it is in expression of group beliefs that the idea of the soul attains its greatest power.

Author Biography

Otto Rank (1884-1939) was one of the most important students of Freud, especially famous for winning Freud's admiration, then for striking out independently. Among his most enduring works are Art and Artist: Creative Urge and Personality Development; Beyond Psychology; The Double; The Myth of the Birth of the Hero; The Trauma of Birth; and The Incest Theme in Literature and Legend, the last is also available from Johns Hopkins. Gregory C. Richter is an associate professor of foreign language at Truman State University. E. James Lieberman is a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Translator's Introduction	xi
E. James Lieberman
Introduction: Self-knowledge and Human Nature	1	(10)
Soul-Belief and Religion	11	(13)
The Sexual Era and Psychology	24	(26)
Individualism and Collectivism	50	(14)
Dream and Reality	64	(31)
Soul and Will	95	(16)
Nature and Spirit	111	(18)
Bibliography	129	(8)
Index	137