December 15, 2004
Cold rationalism beyond the pleasure principle
'From the very beginning, when life takes us under its strict discipline, a resistance stirs within us against the restlessness and monotony of the laws of thought and against the demands of reality-testing. Reason becomes the enemy which witholds from us so many possibilities of pleasure. We discover how much pleasure it gives us to withdraw from it temporarily at least, and to surrender to the allurement of nonsense... More serious hostility to "reason and Science, the highest strength possessed by man", [Goethe] awaits its opportunity;... it is faithful to the assertions of occultism so long as these alleged facts can be taken as breaches of laws and rules; it lulls criticism to sleep, falsifies perceptions and enforces confirmations and agreements which cannot be justified.'
Freud, 'Dreams and Occultism' (1933)
Posted by mark at December 15, 2004 02:04 PM | TrackBack