Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality is one of the grounding texts of 20th century European thinking. In it Freud develops a highly original theory of sexuality for which hysteria (and pathology in general) serves a model to understand human existence. Freud published this text seven times during his lifetime. The later editions tend to hide the revolutionary potential of his thinking. In this commentary we want to reconstruct this potential and in doing so it wants to make clear in what respect Freud's thinking remains a permanent challenge to contemporary psychoanalytic and psychiatric thinking.

Autorentext
Dr. Philippe Van Haute ist ordentlicher Professor für Philosophische Anthropologie an der Radboud Universität Nijmegen, Niederlande, und außerplanmäßiger Professor für Philosophie an der Universität Pretoria, Südafrika.

Zusammenfassung
In seinen Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie von 1905 entwickelt Freud eine höchst originelle Theorie der Sexualität, indem er u.a. die menschliche Existenz aus der Perspektive der Psychopathologie (Hysterie) versteht. Freud überarbeitete den Text während seiner Karriere vier Mal, wobei viele revolutionäre Ansätze aus der Erstfassung von späteren Einsichten überlagert wurden. In diesem Kommentar wird das ursprüngliche Potenzial des Textes herausgearbeitet und in seiner Relevanz für die gegenwärtige psychoanalytische und psychiatrische Theoriebildung dargestellt. Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality is one of the grounding texts of 20th century European thinking. In it Freud develops a highly original theory of sexuality for which hysteria (and pathology in general) serves a model to understand human existence. Freud published this text seven times during his lifetime. The later editions tend to hide the revolutionary potential of his thinking. In this commentary we want to reconstruct this potential and in doing so it wants to make clear in what respect Freud's thinking remains a permanent challenge to contemporary psychoanalytic and psychiatric thinking.