Psychic structure, psychic illness and psychotherapy in Plato and Freud.

Abstract

Freud was familiar with the platonic writings and made multiple references of Plato's work claiming significant similarities with his own. This paper is an attempt to examine, in some detail, the existing similarities and differences between the two psychological systems. Parallels are striking, but these are, more, agreements in principle only. Fundamental divergences emerge, and these relate to different conceptions of the 'hidden knowledge' within the psyche, and of the nature of 'reality'. The two systems reflect different traditions and responded, historically, to different ideological climates.