You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The concept of the Oedipus complex is central to psychoanalytic theory; it is also a highly controversial one. The writer approaches the concept of the Oedipus complex from the ethological perspective, arguing that the complex has deep roots in phylogenetic history. In speaking of the early, primitive stages of this development, the term oedipal constellation is used, rather than Oedipus complex. The article focuses in particular on the forms taken by this constellation in the species most closely related to man, the African anthropoid apes.
The particular form that the Oedipus complex has taken in our species is considered by the writer to be one reason, along with numerous other evolutionary factors, for our present supremacy. The article suggests that the Oedipus complex offers a channel for the controlling of drive energy which has enabled Homo sapiens
Dr. Holmström is Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Finland.
This article is an extended version of a paper read at the Finnish Psychoanalytic Society meeting November 7, 1985.
to emerge as the winner in evolutionary competition. On the other hand, the complex may also represent a fundamental risk factor in terms of our future as a species.