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September 16, 1960, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of Karen Horney's birth. The Editorial Board felt that publication of the following article would be a fitting tribute. It was one of the first significant critical responses to Freud's “Civilization and Its Discontents.” The theoretical and therapeutic aspects of the problems presented have assumed increasing significance in our current moral crisis and dilemma.
“Culture and Aggression; Some Considerations and Objections to Freud's Theory of Instinctual Drives Toward Death and Destruction” was part of a seminar on “Das Problem der Kultur und die Ärztliche Psychologie” (The Problem of Culture and Medical Psychology). It was held in the winter semester of 1930-1931 at the University of Leipzig, and was organized by the late Henry E. Sigerist, professor of the history of medicine. The general topic was Freud's “Civilization and Its Discontents.” The lectures were: Joachim Wach, Das Religiose Gefühl (The Religious Feeling); Arthur Kronfeld, Der Sinn des Leidens (The Meaning of Suffering), Das Wesen des Menschen und der Theorie der Neurose (The Nature of Man and the Theory of Neurosis); Ernst Jolowicz, Der Sinn der Kultur (The Meaning of Culture); Eduard Heimann, Die Sociale Frage (The Social Question); Karen Horney, Der Kampf in der Kultur (Culture and Aggression); Hans Driesch, Die sittliche Forderung (The Moral Challenge).
They were published in Lectures from the Institute for History of Medicine at the University of Leipzig, Vol. 4, Georg Thieme, Leipzig, 1931.
Translated by Bella S. Van Bark, M.D.
For a psychoanalist, the problem of describing the part played by aggressive tendencies of mankind in the construction and destruction of culture is bound to be stimulating, since it leads into an almost wholly unexplored area. However, this problem is of such tremendous scope that it would require no less than a lifetime of work in the field of social psychology. I must, therefore, content myself with showing you a few