EXTENSION PROGRAM FIVE: Freud, Women, and Morality
Coordinator: Don Carveth

Eli Sagan’s Freud, Women, and Morality: The Psychology of Good and Evil (1988) is an important contribution to psychoanalytic theory, feminist thought, and the theory of moral development that has not received the attention it merits. Sagan, a historical sociologist and Freud scholar, connects the limitations of Freud’s theory of morality (superego) with his underestimation of the role of the pre-Oedipal mother in the formation of conscience. These four seminars are devoted to a careful reading and discussion of Sagan’s contribution to our understanding of the psychological basis of moral and social progress.