Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire by Hans Eysenck

Author:Hans Eysenck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -, -
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2017-06-22T16:00:00+00:00

It is remarkable that countless psychoanalysts have paid homage to the case of little Hans, without being offended by its glaring inadequacies. We shall not here attempt to explain this, except to point to one probable major influence – a tacit belief among analysts that Freud possessed a kind of unerring insight that absolved him from the obligation to obey rules applicable to ordinary men. For example, Glover, speaking of other analysts who arrogate to themselves the right Freud claimed to subject his material to ‘a touch of revision’, says: ‘No doubt when someone of Freud’s calibre appears in our midst he will be freely accorded … this privilege.’ And again: To accord such a privilege to anyone is to violate the spirit of science.’

We have now discussed in some detail the theory of child development favoured by Freud, the evidence relating to it, and the case of little Hans which he used to introduce the ideas of child psychoanalysis to the world. The outcome of this examination is a melancholy one. It portrays a complete lack of scientific attitude in Freud, a naïve reliance on interpretation of a highly speculative nature, a disregard and disrespect for observational and other facts, a failure to consider alternative theories, and a Messianic belief in his own infallibility, together with a contempt for his critics, This is not a mixture likely to generate scientific knowledge, and indeed even now, seventy-five years after the case of little Hans was analysed by Freud, we are no nearer to having any acceptable evidence for Freud’s speculations about Oedipus complexes, castration fears, and early infantile sexuality. The terms have penetrated public consciousness, and are widely used to spice up the writings and the conversation of literary people and others without a scientific background, but among psychologists who demand some form of evidence for factual assertions, there is now little faith in the validity of these Freudian concepts. The reasons for this disbelief will have become clear in the course of this chapter, so let us merely state that it is remarkable that these unsupported speculations became so widely accepted by psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, that Freud managed to persuade highly intelligent people of the cogency of his arguments, and that his methods became so widely used and applied in the treatment of neurotic and other illnesses. It will be the task of historians of science to explain how all this came about. Ihave no suggestion to make on this truly miraculous development, It seems to me to partake more of a religious conversion than of a scientific persuasion, to be based on faith and belief rather than fact and experiment, and to rely on suggestion and propaganda rather than proof and verification. Is there, in fact, any experimental evidence in favour of the Freudian view? To this problem we must now turn in the next two chapters.

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