Abstract

The article refers to the hermeneutic methods of psychoanalysis. It scrutinizes Freud’s strategy in transforming traditional myths of the devil into a theory ofevil which reveals the dark side of the human soul. Relating to Freud’s epistemic construction of metapsychology, it is argued that his hermeneutic systemfashions its specifi c principles of causality, which are stipulated by the theory of libido, in order to reinterpretate the mythology of the devil as a relic leftby the unconscious. Freud’s argumentation, exemplifi ed in his studies on religious superstition, demonstrates the interconnection between mythology andthe unconscious. As the devil fi gures dirt and darkness, he represents distressing thoughts which are repressed and rejected by consciousness. The article is completed by a view on C. G. Jung’s theory of the archetypes, which considers the evil as part of the preconscious thoughts beyond individual experience. Thus thefundamental difference between Freud’s metapsychology and Jung’s archetypes is refl ected in the interpretation of the devil as a fi gure, retaining the dark energies concentrated in the human soul.