Synthesized answer
The passages explain "rigid determinism in all psychic processes" by showing how unconscious conflicts, such as a "parental complex," drive behavior in a predictable, cause-and-effect manner. For example, both Mohammed and Amenhotep IV are described as having an intense "father-complex" rooted in an infantile fixation on the mother, which determined their later actions [1]. In Mohammed's case, being a posthumous child meant his grandfather took the father's place, creating a "grandfather-complex" [2]. This complex led to aggressive impulses that were sublimated into a lifelong war on their people's traditions [2]. The text also notes that the desire for male children is motivated by a parent's wish to avenge wrongs done by their own father, illustrating deterministic psychic forces [3].
The "parental complex" is applied to these historical figures to explain their revolutionary behavior. For Amenhotep, his vengefulness stemmed from his mother Teje, while Mohammed's incestuous love was directed toward his mother Amina [2]. Their aggressive impulses against the father were sublimated: Amenhotep's hatred transformed into a "consuming love for all created things," resembling Jesus,…
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From the book
ewhat similar lines, for there is nothing shadowy or mysterious in the records of the life of the Great Arabian Prophet. We know as much of Mohammed as we do even of Luther and Milton. As in the case of Amenhotep, there exists in the life-history of Mohammed an abundance of evidence which points unmistakably to the existence of a prodigious "parental complex". Therefore it is by no means unlikely that a psycho-analytic survey of the material at our disposal will enable us to recognise at least some of the psychogenic factors which impelled Mohammed to devote his life to the formulation and…
f both men had their roots in an intense “father-complex” involving a strong infantile fixation in regard to the mother. For Amenhotep the roots of his venge fulness Jay in the beautiful and gifted Asiatic princess, Teje; while the incestuous love of Mohammed was directed towards the gentle Amina, daughter of Khuweilid, whose very name “Amina”, “the Faithful”, is daily in the mouth of every Muslim throughout the world. In the case of Mohammed the “Father-complex” was of a rather peculiar kind since, being born a posthumous child, he never knew his father. The place of the father was taken by…
e in the determination of the vengefulness of Amenhotep and Mohammed, was the absence of male offspring to both of them. Since modern psychology began to throw light on the dark places of the unconscious life of mankind, few more notable discoveries have been made than those dealing with the ebb and flow of the eternal struggle between father and son, the fall and rise of ever-succeeding generations. It has been shown that the desire for children, but more especially male children, which is a characteristic of all races the world over, is not motivated solely by the instinct of reproduction…
heir respective conflicts in waging a life-long war on the traditions, religious, political and social, of their people. Doubtless the aggressive impulses (against the father) of Amenhotep underwent a far greater degree of sublimation than those of Mohammed, so that his character became in the end more essentially to resemble that of Jesus of Nazareth than that of the founder of Islam, for the hatred of Amenhotep for his father found its final expression in a consuming love for all created things. The intensity of the unconscious feeling of both these men can only be measured by the…
inly the guidance has come to them from their Lord. "Or shall man have what he wishes?" (Koran, Chapter LIII, v. 19-24). But in spite of the strength of the revolutionary tendencies of Amenhotep and Mohammed, we can observe in both a willingness to compromise on certain points, an attitude of mind that is frequently a feature of the behaviour of psychoneurotics. This willingness to compromise may be taken as an indication that the desire for paternal control is never entirely lost, even when the antagonism to it reaches its highest point of development. Although Amenhotep broke with the…
More questions about this book
- Berkeley-Hill argues that "nothing shadowy or mysterious" exists in Mohammed's records, making him suitable for psychoanalysis. What unique challenges or ethical considerations might arise when applying psychoanalytic methods, typically designed for living patients, to historical figures whose inner lives are only accessible through secondary sources?
- If a "prodigious 'parental complex'" can be identified in figures like Mohammed through historical analysis, how might this Freudian perspective reshape our understanding of not only individual historical figures but also the broader cultural or religious movements they initiated?
- The text suggests that Freud's "rigid determinism" *led* to the psychoanalysis of historical personalities. Can you articulate the chain of reasoning that connects a belief in psychic determinism to the justification for applying it to figures from the distant past?
- Considering the overall title "Psycho (Film) by Alfred Hitchcock" which frames this excerpt, how might the ideas presented in "The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis" — particularly the discussion of historical psychoanalysis and complexes — serve as a foundational or thematic backdrop for understanding Hitchcock's film?