My Thoughts on Freud Returns
The article by Mark Solms, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, 2004

Why do we humans do what we do? The question seems simple enough, yet the answer has evaded mankind for centuries. Before the advent of modern research technology, any attempt at solving this riddle was audacious in its own right when considering that any conclusions drawn would be regarded as nothing more than speculative, at best. One man, named Dr. Sigmund Freud, did have the audacity, and not only was he daring enough to investigate the enigma that is the human brain. Dr. Freud also proposed a bold new approach to understanding the way humans think by developing his theory of psychoanalysis. Today, however, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is met with great scrutiny. In the article Freud Returns, written by Mark Solms, the author writes about the criticism towards Dr. Freud’s concept, and also presents his own notion of the theory’s legitimacy in modern psychology. I think Mr. Solms presents a strong case in his article and I agree that, although far-fetched, all of Sigmund Freud’s ideas shouldn’t be disregarded. No doubt, Sigmund Freud did put forth a wealth of unusual concepts. Nonetheless, every one of them was extraordinary, in my opinion. The most notable of Dr. Freud’s concepts was the suggestion that the majority of human behavior is ultimately influenced by repressed motivations hidden deep within the unconscious mind. The idea was that, beneath the surface of every human being’s conscious exterior is his or her “true” nature, and by tapping into this unconscious level, one could get to the root of mental illness. I find this idea simply astonishing. Yet, as stated in the article, specialists began to dismiss this notion as research methods advanced, citing their discoveries of chemical imbalances being the cause of mental malfunction. However, Mr. Solms