Chapter IV. Freud's Theory of Sexuality

We must now try to investigate a subject that runs through all Freud's work, and is at the very heart of the psycho-analytic method and the psycho-analytic understanding of the mind: namely, the problem of sexuality. In approaching this, as in approaching other aspects of Freud's work, I want to try to differentiate between the method with its associated data, and the theories which are often strongly influenced by preconceptions; and to remind you that I have spoken of the way in which Freud was transformed from the determinist neuro-physiologist into a phenomenological psychologist over the period of the forty years of his psycho-analytic work. Freud is probably best known for his revolutionary views on sexuality; but I think when we study them in practice we will be less inclined to consider them as revolutionary views and more inclined to see them as real discoveries. In order to make this differentiation it is necessary to read the ‘Three Essays’ as laid out in the standard edition with great care, because it has been presented with a certain disingenuousness. Its format runs counter to the general format of the edition, which is chronological with cross-referencing. The editors for some reason have followed a different policy with the ‘Three Essays’. I wish to remind you, to begin with, of the way in which one must read it if one is to get a chronological idea in one's mind of Freud's development.

There were six editions of the ‘Three Essays’ brought out in Freud's lifetime, beginning in 1905 and ending in 1926, of which four contain significant changes in his views: mostly additions, but also some corrections. The editors of the Standard edition have for some reason chosen to present the last as the basic text and to annotate this with footnotes. The result is that one has the greatest difficulty in reading it chronologically, because it is very difficult to read something and then, on the basis of a footnote, to remove it from one's mind in order to gain an