Freud vs. Westermarck

Joseph Kemmerly Fri 11:00 AM

Consilience mentions both Sigmund Freud and Edvard Westermarch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freud

Freud is definitely the more famous of the two. He tried to explain how the unconcious mind works dividing the unconcious into the id, ego, and sugerego. The article briefly mentions his views regarding religion. Freud takes a pessimistic view of religion describing it as an illusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Westermarck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermark_effect

Edvard Westermark was an antropologist, philosopher, and sociologist from Finland. He is famous for observing a phenomenon that is now known as the Westermark Effect, that is when two people grow up with each other they both tend to be naturally unattracted to each other sexually.

Freud believed the opposite of Westermark. Freud believed that members of the same family feel sexual attraction to one another naturally so incest taboos have to be created as a way to counteract this phenomenon. Modernly, most believe that Westermark has won the debate because the scientific evidence is on his side.