The advent of the first psychoanalytic congress to be held on German soil since 1932 was the occasion to address a wide range of topics, particularly the historical aspects of the psychoanalytic movement as these apply to theory and practice. There was much focus on the impact of German history (in the 1930s) upon the psychoanalytic movement as a whole. It is hoped that this is only the beginning of a dialogue that must be vigorously pursued in depth and breadth. There were other topics that were barely touched upon or not mentioned by name. This paper is devoted to one of these topics, the problem of a psychoanalytic critique of civilization,1 which originated in Freud's writings.

It is obvious that Freud's critique of civilization is not a constituent part of psychoanalytic thought or practice today. In fact, one of the positions that one presently encounters banishes the psychoanalytic critique of civilization entirely from clinical