In this year’s 13th issue of Newsweek a report on Sigmund Freud was published in advance of his 150th birthday. Jerry Adler, Newsweek journalist, tries to cover the most significant information about the austrian psychoanalyst whom he names “the architect of therapeutic culture” (p. 35).
Adler presents the most common facts on Freud and attempts to answer the one and only question concerning Freud, wether or not his scientific work can be taken for granted. From the beginnig of his work in 19th century, Freud had to face opponents who did not accept his ideas. Since then things don’t really have changed. At least there are a bunch of scientists and philosophers trying to defend Freuds thesis, but even they don’t defend all parts of it. According to Adler’s research work most people (in America) today think of Freud as someone who changed the whole way of thinking of psychoanalysis. Even though he did not have modern aids as for example magnetic resonance imaging, the reader is told that Freud would have appreciated to collaborate with today’s neuroscientist.
Unfortunately this is nearly everything that might be of interest for scientific work. The report does not drop into detail, it stays on the surface for long. Within the article a kind of diagram is implemented which shows the different schools of thought that developed on top of Freudian theory. I am somehow disappointed, was it because of this article I decided to buy the issue of Newsweek and it is now that I can not tell that I have read something especially new.