Neutralizing Freud: The Lycée Philosophy Class and the Problem of the Reception of Psychoanalysis in France.

Psychoanalysis & philosophy; Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939; Lycées; Philosophy education in secondary schools; Philosophy of mind

An essay is presented on psychological theories of Sigmund Freud which were taught uniformly throughout France as part of the lycée philosophy curriculum of the state-run secondary school. It says that the explicit content of the lycée philosophy class and the more implicit habits of mind prepared an unfertile ground for the implantation of Freud's theories. It contends that the lycée philosophy curriculum dealt two separate but related advance blows to a nascent psychoanalysis.