A Freudian Perspective on What Ails the World Today

This colloquium, organized by the Helix Center and ADAPes Freud Committee, brings together psychoanalysts, scholars, and cultural and political figures to engage in roundtable discussions on identity formation, education and the pursuit of knowledge, and the role of knowledge in addressing religious and nationalist extremism. Drawing on Freudian thought, the event examines how modern crises of identity, secularization, and globalizing consumerism intersect with tensions between individual desire, collective belonging, and social cohesion. It further considers the limits of education, the dynamics of mass psychology, and the distinction between open civic structures and closed systems such as nation and religion. Across these themes, the colloquium seeks to reflect on how psychoanalytic perspectives might help interpret contemporary social malaise and contribute to a renewed commitment to reason, humanism, and cosmopolitan values.