Freud on the State, Violence, and War

The central purpose of this article is to argue for the extreme pertinence of psychoanalysis for all contemporary thought on the state, violence, and war. I restrict myself exclusively to a close reading of Freud's writings (Thoughts for the Times on War and Death and Why War?), finding them a formidable instrument of political analysis rivaled only by the radical political thought of Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, to whose work they bear a surprising affinity. Jacques Derrida has also highlighted the crucial importance of Freud's correspondence with Einstein for contemporary reflections on war, violence, cruelty, and sovereignty. I attempt to show that Freud is thus a remarkably contemporary political thinker and a highly radical one as well.