Oedipus Complex Rests at the Essay

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Macmillan complains of Freud's inability to accept his own influence on people's behavior or on the development of rather questionable theories: "he never accepted that influences transmitted unconsciously from him to them had important effects upon what they claimed to recall about the origins of their symptoms" (Macmillan 73). Freud has often forced his observations to fit his hypothesis and thus there is no way to validate his conclusions. There is no empirical studies conducted by him to support his theory on 'Oedipus Complex' instead what we get is series of generalizations based on Freud's rather dubious observations. This is proven by those who have cross-checked the validity of Freud's claims. For example his theory of superego and ego which he connected with 'Oedipus Complex' were based on nothing more than some anecdotal evidence and vague ideas as Esternon found:

[Freud] observes that the ego's 'three tyrannical masters are the external world, the super-ego and the id', but since this is saying little more than that man's consciousness is governed by his environment, his conscience, and his innate instincts, it is hardly a great revelation (Webster 292). Freud's concepts and his theories are so general in definition that they can be molded to fit any situation as and when the psychoanalyst feels.

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A child who is resentful towards his father can easily be seen as a patient of Oedipus complex while the real reason may actually be very different. William McDougall agrees that Freud's work is too general to be of specific use: "if we allowed ourselves the laxity of reasoning which is habitual to Freud and many of his disciples, and if we possessed his fertile ingenuity, there would be literally no limits to the possibilities of application of his principles" (Webster 293).

Interestingly the very basis on this idea stands on very shaky grounds. 'Oedipus Complex' is based on Sophocles' hero Oedipus who killed his father and married his mother. So far it seems like this would fit the Oedipus complex, only, we must know that Oedipus killed his father accidentally and married his father without knowing she was his mother. Thus it becomes clear that Freud would try to force his ideas to match anecdotal evidence instead of building ideas based on thorough research......

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