Zsuzsanna Vajda: The Unorthodox Views of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis on the Nature of the Child and Education

The representatives of the Budapest Psychoanalytic School, Sándor Ferenczi, Mihály and Alice Bálint, Imre Hermann and Géza Róheim, held views differing from those of Freud in many respects. They did not consider biological nature and social expectations as opposed to each other. They argued that the artificial, man-made environment is the natural environment for a child. It is not objective reality, but its cultural reflection that determines human accommodation. There is no absolute recipe for education or universal mental hygiene as all societies present different requirements for the individual. The practice of Budapest psychoanalysts corresponded to their theoretical stance. Beside attributing high importance to the role of the mother, they emphasized that education cannot avoid the representation of norms and the imposition of restrictions. The argued that children must be taught what reality is. Unfortunately, due to historical forces, the Budapest School came to an end, its members died or left the country. Thus their important thoughts did not have an effect on the development of psychoanalysis and its adaptation to education.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 96. Number 4. 329-339. (1996)

Address for correspondence: Vajda Zsuzsanna, József Attila Tudomány¬egye¬tem Pszichológiai Tanszék, H–6722 Szeged, Petőfi S. sgt. 30–34.

 
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