Note 249 — Chapter XVII · ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAMILY TENDENCIES—THE REPRESSION OF LOVE

A difficulty in connection with Westermarck's theory is concerned with the question as to how an aversion to sexual intercourse between those who have lived from infancy together changed to a similar aversion between blood relatives. How is it, if the original aversion was of the former kind, that it has left but little trace of its existence, while the aversion to marriage between blood relatives, which is supposed to have been derived from it, is grown so strong? It would seem as if the theory would perhaps have to be modified so as to postulate the existence of an original aversion to the marriage of blood relatives, as such; though of course this only opens up the fresh difficulty of accounting for the manner in which such an aversion could arise. We are here faced with the same problem that we have already encountered in the case of the positive aspects of the love impulse between relatives (p. 198 footnote).