"Totem and Taboo" is a collection of four essays by Sigmund Freud that were published together in German in 1913. Freud sought to apply his theories of psychoanalysis to the study of anthropology and early human history. The four essays cover a wide range of topics. In "The Horror of Incest", Freud examines the varied and common rules in primitive cultures that limit contact between members of the same family. In "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence," Freud posits that primitive cultures and their attitudes about magical objects are similar to the behavior of people with neurotic psychological conditions in the modern world. In "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thought," Freud draws comparisons between the primitive belief in magic and magical animals to obsessive and compulsive disorders. Finally, in "The Return of Totemism in Childhood," Freud, influenced by one of Charles Darwin's theories about the male-dominated arrangement of early human societies, looks for parallels with his own Oedipus complex theory in the structure of primitive cultures. A classic and influential work of early psychoanalysis, "Totem and Taboo" is an important read for students of both psychology and social anthropology.

Toward a Meaningful Life is a spiritual road map for living based on the teachings of one of the foremost religious leaders of our time: Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Head of the Lubavitcher movement for forty-four years and recognized throughout the world simply as "the Rebbe," Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who passed away in June 1994, was a sage and a visionary of the highest order. Toward a Meaningful Life gives people of all backgrounds fresh perspectives on every aspect of their lives--from birth to death, youth to old a≥ marriage, love, intimacy, and family; the persistent issues of career, health, pain, and suffering; and education, faith, science, and government. We learn to bridge the divisions between accelerated technology and decelerated morality, between unprecedented worldwide unity and unparalleled personal disunity. Although the Rebbe's teachings are firmly anchored in more than three thousand years of scholarship, the urgent relevance of these old-age truths to contemporary life has never been more manifest. At the threshold of a new world where matter and spirit converge, the Rebbe proposes spiritual principles that unite people as opposed to the materialism that divides them. In doing so, he continues to lead us toward personal and universal redemption, toward a meaningful life, and toward God.

21. "A Brief Evaluation of Nietzsche's Theory." Three Attempts to Discredit It. Stephen Potter, Est. Hitler. Women. St. Paul. Camus. -- 22. "Universal Laws" Versus "A Mere Working Hypothesis."--Part III: Nietzsche: Psychology of World Views, Psychohistory, and Masks -- 23. "Nietzsche's Third Major Contribution ... 'The Psychology of World Views.' " Resentment. Psychology of Faith. -- 24. "Nietzsche's Fourth Major Contribution ... He Pioneered Psychohistory."--25. "The Origin of the 'Bad Conscience.' " -- 26. "Nietzsche's Fifth and Final Contribution ... His Philosophy of Masks." The Relevant Material. Contrast with Sartre. -- 27. Nietzsche did not Think of Masks as Necessarily Inauthentic and Evil." Roles and Women. -- 28. "How can Nietzsche Reconcile His Non-Judgmental Attitude toward Masks ... with His Celebration of 'The Intellectual Conscience'?" -- 29. "Whatever is Profound Loves Masks." -- 30. "Many German Philosophers ... have Tried to Reconcile Kant and Nietzsche." -- Part IV: Heidegger's Dogmatic Anthropology -- 31. "It was Heidegger's Discovery of Nietzsche that Precipitated the Later Phase of his Philosophy." "I am no Philosopher." "I am a 'Christian theologian.'" -- 32. Heidegger's Reading of Nietzsche Rests on Three Very Clear and Simple Principles." -- 33. "The Central Point of my Critique of Heidegger is to Show How He Impeded the Discovery of the mind." "His Influence" "I shall Concentrate on S & Z." -- 34. First Thesis: Heidegger's 'Existential Ontology' is Dubious Anthropology." -- 35. "Second Thesis: Heidegger's Thinking is Deeply Authoritarian." -- 36. "He Says a Hundred Things I've been Unconsciously Hoping to Hear from Someone who Could Assert them with Authority." "Husserl's and Heidegger's Bias Against Empirical Science and Psychology in Particular was Rooted in their Hunger for Certainty and Apodictic Discourse

In this important study Ernst Cassirer analyzes the non-rational thought processes that go to make up culture. He demonstrates that beneath both language and myth there lies an unconscious "grammar" of experience, whose categories and canons are not those of logical thought. He shows that this prelogical "logic" is not merely an undeveloped state of rationality, but something basically different, and that this archaic mode of thought still has enormous power over even our most rigorous thought, in language, poetry and myth. The author analyzes brilliantly such seemingly diverse (yet related) phenomena as the metaphysics of the Bhagavat Gita, the Melanesian concept of Mana, the Naturphilosophie of Schelling, modern poetry, Ancient Egyptian religion, and symbolic logic. He covers a vast range of material that is all too often neglected in studies of human thought. These six essays are of great interest to the student of philosophy or the philosophy of science, the historian, or the anthropologist. They are also remarkably timely for students of literature, what with the enormous emphasis placed upon "myth" in modern literary speculation. This book is not superficial speculation by a dabbler, but a penetrating study by one of the most profound and sensitive philosophic minds of our time.