Submitted by Ben Swetland, Nov 30, 2006 14:06

If Freud's work is without value, off the mark, and roundly discredited why is the man still being raked over the coals 67 years after his death? Much of the broad, late-in-coming criticism of Freud (like Dworkin's here) seems colored by a personal resentment of what the man had to say. I won't attempt an indepth defense of Freud's scientific value in the comments section if Dworkin didn't mount an indepth attack in the piece, but I think Dworkin's review is evidence of the initial and lasting obstacle to acceptance of Freud's work:

It makes us uncomfortable. It offends us. It paints a picture of our inner lives that can frighten us.

It should, too. We live in times besotted by violence and avarice. Freud made invaluable contributions to the vocabulary of those darker energies. We live in precisely the wrong time to disregard a man who, more than most, advanced our understanding of what a "monster of energy" life can be.

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