The psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), who was born in Freiberg (now Príbor in the Czech Republic) on May 6 of Jewish parents and educated as a medical doctor in Vienna, founded the field of depth psychology (which he called psychoanalysis) and became one of the most influential thinkers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His studies of the structure of the human psyche, the contents of the unconscious mind, the meaning and interpretation of dreams, repression, anxiety, and the role of the libido in the personality gave rise to many schools of psychological theory and therapy.

Ambivalence Toward Science and Technology

Throughout this life Freud maintained a deep-seated belief in the value of scientific inquiry and a deep antipathy toward religion. In New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1952 [1932]), Freud stated

Of the three forces which can dispute the position of science, religion alone is a really...