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Abstract
Oedipus between ontogenesis and phylogeny.
The hypothesis of primordial parricide and the phylogenetic transmission of this traumatic event in the prehistory of humankind (phylogeny) was developed by Freud to introduce the phylogenetic Oedipal schema that is activated at a crucial moment in human childhood. He presented its theoretical, historical, and philosophical aspects in a way that complemented the clinical hypothesis of the infantile Oedipal complex (ontogeny). This article discusses this hypothesis and compares it with some developments of Lamarckism in biology – relating to the inheritance of non-genetic traits – until recently considered obsolete and now taken up again by advanced sectors of the natural sciences, which not only confirms the legitimacy of Freud’s proposal on the Oedipus complex (phylogeny) but also Freud’s foresight in anticipating problems that place studies on the origin and development of civilization within the realm of the natural sciences.