Impossible Professions

Impossible Professions

From Why Theory by Why Theory

May 11, 2026 · 1h 21m

About this episode

Ryan and Todd discuss Freud's concept of 'impossible professions' and its implications in modern society.

On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Freud's idea of the "impossible professions." First articulated in 1925, Freud is drawn to the idea that psychoanalysis is like government and education in that it proposes a necessary function without end. The intrinsic endlessness to the impossible professions often leaves them ripe for tendentious scrutiny. As we've seen over the last decade, those with roles in education, government, and medicine have had their expertise routinely ridiculed and undermined. The hosts each add an idea to Freud's initial proposition with Ryan offering that each of the impossible professions has a necessary tie to the public trust that, in our era, must be won back while Todd offers that transference holds the impossible professions together and excludes others that might be included.

People in this episode

Hosts: Ryan, Todd

Topics covered

  • psychoanalysis
  • Freud
  • public trust
  • education
  • government
  • medicine
  • transference

Keywords

  • Freud
  • impossible professions
  • psychoanalysis
  • public trust
  • education
  • government
  • medicine
  • transference

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Impossible Professions

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