real (as discussed in the third essay). If so, then the impulse or instinct to kill the father would be enough
to produce the moral reaction that created totem and taboo.
Freud concludes by returning to the comparison of primitive people with neurotics, which led him into
the present discussions. Whilst he has found striking similarities, he also notes that the analogy between
them must not influence thought too far. There are distinctions too, which must be borne in mind. Whilst
the difference that we make between thinking and doing, appears to be absent in both of them, neurotics
are above all, inhibited in their actions, with them the thought is a complete substitute for the deed.
Primitive men, on the other hand, are uninhibited, thought passes directly into action - with them it is
rather the deed that is a substitute for the thought. Similarly, with the relationship he has identified between
taboo and the Oedipus complex, not only their similarities but also their differences must be borne in
mind.
