Freud Evaluated

Since its initial publication this critique of Freud's methods for gathering and evaluating evidence has become a classic in Freud scholarship. foreword by Frederick Crews Psychoanalysis: science or belief system? Since its initial publication this critique of Freud's methods for gathering and evaluating evidence has become a classic in Freud scholarship. Malcolm Macmillan's exhaustive analysis of Freud's personality theory describes the logical and other assumptions on which Freud's work was based and shows how these assumptions interacted with his clinical observations to produce all-embracing but faulty methods for gathering and evaluating evidence. Macmillan provides a meticulous account of the historical evolution of Freud's thought and its background in Freud's contacts with the books and people that influenced him and evaluates the entirety of the Freudian system. Included is a compilation of major criticisms of the methodology and assumptions of Freudian theory and a new comprehensive afterword by the author surveying the relevant literature published since 1989. (cloth published by Elsevier-North Holland in 1991)

In this book, originally published in 1963, Dr Fine sets out to describe what Freud said, and to re-evaluate his views critically in the light of the best knowledge of the time. Freud’s numerous changes of view, his constant searching for the truth wherever it might lead him, as well as his resolute adherence to certain hard-won positions once he had achieved them, are all skilfully traced. Freud’s intellectual Odyssey is divided into four periods. From 1886 to 1895 he was a neurologist investigating hysteria and other ‘nervous’ disorders. Then came his self-analysis, from 1896 to 1899, the real matrix from which psycho-analysis grew. The first psycho-analytic system of psychology was developed in the period from 1900 to 1914. The remainder of his life, from 1914 to 1939, was devoted to the elaboration of ego psychology, and heart of contemporary psycho-analysis. Dr Fine undertook, in writing this book, the formidable task of examining the whole body of Freud’s thought, to clarify what he said, and to review his ideas critically in the light of the best available existing knowledge. As he says ‘In this process of criticism I have tried to specify which aspects of Freud have stood the test of time and which have not.’ ‘So far as I can see no one has ever before taken the trouble to ask: "What did Freud actually say? How does what Freud said stand up in terms of what we now know?"’ In answering these questions, Dr Fine develops a major thesis that all modern psycho-analysis derives from Freud, though it has moved far in many different directions. The contention is that emphasis on schools is misleading and has obscured the actual historical growth of the science. As he states in his Preface to this volume, Dr Fine’s conviction is: ‘By building on Freud’s fundamental insights, we can move on most readily to empirical research and thus construct a more satisfactory science of psychology.’

In the early 1970s, Cioffi demonstrated that Freud falsified the account of his discovery of the Oedipus complex - an account that had gone unquestioned until that time. Moreover, Cioffi showed that this misrepresentation was necessary to the propagation of the Oedipus theory. The author subsequently revealed Freud's falsifications in retracting his theory of infantile seduction, a revelation that has been often cited in recent books and scholarly journals.

Vitz psychoanalyzes Freud's motivation to reject religion.

This book examines the nature of Freud’s relationship to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche regarded himself, among other things, as a psychologist. His psychological explorations included an understanding of the meaning and function of dreams, the unconscious, sublimation of drives, drives turned inward upon the self, unconscious guilt, unconscious envy, unconscious resistance, and much more that anticipated some of Freud’s fundamental psychoanalytic concepts. Although Freud wrote of Nietzsche having anticipated psychoanalytic concepts, he denied that Nietzsche had any influence on his thought.

Rob White reconsiders Freud's controversial theory of inherited memory, referring it both to Anglo-American commentary and post-structuralist work on psychoanalysis. White proposes that this theory is evidence of an underlying haunted retrospection in Freudian theorizing, which time and again discovers that meaning has been lost.

More than a century has passed since Sigmund Freud began his groundbreaking work in psychoanalysis yet there is no consensus about his legacy; instead there is persistent disagreement not only about Freud's reputation and place in history but about the proper standards to use in evaluating his theory and therapy. This book develops epistemological standards for Freudian psychology and provides a comprehensive evaluation of, and possibly final, verdict on Freud's theory and therapy. Unlike any other evaluation published to date, it contains a systematic discussion of both the Freudian experimental and non-experimental evidence and the proper standards for interpreting the evidence. Part I considers the view that Freud's theory should be judged by special evidential standards deemed appropriate for judging hypotheses of commonsense psychology. Edward Erwin argues against this view and for the employment of standards applicable to causal hypotheses of both the natural and social sciences. Erwin also addresses other issues about standards such as the need for experimental evidence, the use of placebo controls, the proper goals of psychotherapy, and the use of meta-analysis in analyzing outcome data. The standards developed in part I of the book are used in part II in evaluating the best available Freudian evidence. A Bradford Book