Two Anthropological Receptions of Freud’s Ideas: Semyon L. Frank and Ludwig Binswanger

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to compare Semyon Frank’s and Ludwig Binswanger’s reception of Freudian ideas, represented in published works and correspondence (mostly unpublished) of the both thinkers. The essence of this reception is anthropological one. In a positive perception of psy­choanalysis and in its criticism Frank and Binswanger strive to formulate a new understanding of Man, which overcome nihilistic tendencies and is irreducible to either traditional religious anthro­pology or secular humanism. From their point of view, the anthropological discoveries of psycho­analysis cannot receive an appropriate interpretation within the framework of its own naturalistic schemes.