The Influence of Freudianism on the Formation of the Concept of the Subject at the Turn of the 19th-20th Centuries

The purpose of this article is to study the influence of Freudianism on the formation of the concept of the subject in the context of the history of Western philosophy. Content analysis has become a key research method. The analysis of the substance of Sigmund Freud’s writings is undertaken in the context of his disciples and interpreters, as well as in relation to other philosophical doctrines that delve into the issue of the concept of the subject. The paper shows that Freudianism, as the basis of classical psychoanalysis, pointed to many gaps in understanding the problem of man as the subject and significantly expanded the range of theoretical ideas about the concept of the subject. The main problems revealed in Freudianism include: the duality of the poles of human existence (Eros and Thanatos were psychoanalytic comprehen sion of E. Durkheim’s sociological idea of homo duplex); the idea of split consciousness of the subject; the presence of the mechanism of the psyche, contributing to the transformation of the relationship of the subject to the objective world; the problem of suprasubjectivity. The novelty of the insights presented in this paper lies in the unveiling of the significance of Freudian thought in the historical evolution of the concept of subjectivity. Moreover, it delves into the elucidation of Z. Freud’s pivotal concepts that have significantly shaped perceptions of human subjectivity within the realms of existentialism, phenomenology, and postmodern thought.