Leszek Kołakowski's Critique of the Freudian Theory of Culture

Abstract

The present paper deals with the problem of the relation between Leszek Kołakowski's theoretical considerations concerning the problem of culture and his specific analyses of particular cultural trends. The paper proves that Kołakowski's critique of the psychoanalytical theory of culture included in his essay Psychoanalityczna teoria kultury (Psychoanalytical Theory of Culture) is extremely apt and that it hits the basic intuitions as far as this doctrine is concerned.

It is impossible, however, to accept his critique in terms of Kołakowski's standpoint on the nature and functions of culture, as they are presented in his work Obecność mitu (The Presence of Myth). That impossibility results from an inconsistency between the critical and the analytical trend of his thought. The lack of consistency manifests a tragic element inherent withi n Kołakowski's philosophical approach. On the one hand, the core of his philosophy is focused on the negation of transcendence and of absolute values. On the other hand, however, he holds that such reality and such values are indispensable for the protection of culture against its crisis which is well under way.