what i think of sigmund freud*

After interpreting and observing Sigmund Freud's study of Little Hans' phobia of horses, I am half impressed, half critical about his ideas of the Oedipal conflict and sexuality. Although he was brave enough to introduce and link little Hans' behavior to sexuality in the Victorian society (that carefully kept sex hidden), his case study was somewhat unrealiable (and hard to generalize in terms of the society), biased, and tended to be in some way or the other--always--linked to sexual issues. I am not sure that his idea of symbolism--the horse falling down representing his mother giving birth and his father falling to his death--is totally accurate--it isn't possible to prove the true meaning concealed beneath the phobia (as this is a limitation of case studies). However, he profoundly interprets events to be linked together in a clever, meaningful way. Overall, I'm happy that, being successful, he influenced our theories on behavior and helped us gain insight into the depths of our minds.

-- yuki