I've heard that Freud originally wanted to be something different that what he eventually became professionally. What career path did he want to follow from the start? Medecine, neurology? What external circumstances "moved" him in this direction?

-- Daniel J. Denis (dand@yorku.ca), March 13, 2001

Answers

I hope it's OK for an "interloper" to join this forum!

Freud wanted a career in neurology (neuroanatomy?) but as a Jew his prospects for a university appointment were dim. He wanted to get married and needed a steady source of income to support a family, so shifted to medicine and became a physician.

-- Nicole B. Barenbaum (nbarenba@sewanee.edu), March 14, 2001.

As a Gymnasium (high school) student, Freud's major interests were in the humanities and - given the options open to him as a Jew in Vienna - his most probable career path was in the law. Jones's biography relates that, towards the end of his Gymnasium days, he heard and was inspired by a reading of Goethe's essay "On Nature," which shifted his interest towards the sciences and led to his enrolling, almost impulsively, in med school.

-- Ray Fancher (fancher@yorku.ca), March 14, 2001.

Freud initially entered the University of Vienna with the intention of studying Law. He switched to Biology and specialized in neuroscience. Freud's next switch to medicine (clinical neurology) was brought about by the poor professional prospects for him in this field.

-- David L. Smith (DSmith@maine.rr.com), March 16, 2001.