Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire


Book Description

Hans Eysenck was one of the best-known research psychologists of the twentieth century. Respected as a prolific author, he was unafraid to address controversial topics. In Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire, he places himself at the center of the debate on psychoanalytic theory, challenging the state of Freudian theory and modern-day psychoanalytic practice and questioning the premises on which psychoanalysis is based. In so doing, Eysenck illustrates the shortcomings of both psychoanalysis as a method of curing neurotic and psychotic behaviors, and of the theory of dreams and their interpretation. He also analyzes Freud's influence on anthropology and his alleged contributions to science.While books about Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis abound, most have been written by followers and acolytes and are therefore uncritical, unaware of alternative theories, or written as weapons in a war of propaganda. Others are long and highly technical, and therefore valuable only to students and professionals. Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire, on the other hand, was written with the non-professional in mind, and is for those who wish to know what modern scholarship has discovered about the truth or falsity of Freudian doctrines.Graced with an incisive new preface by Sybil Eysenck exploring her husband's motivation for writing the book, Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire is an authoritative and convincing work that exposes the underlying contradictions in Freudian theory, as well as the limitations and errors of psychoanalysis.




Playing with Fire


Book Description

'Playing with Fire' is a biography of psychologist Hans J. Eysenck's career. It looks to describe the contradictions in Eysenck's public and professional image and explain how one fed the other. It documents his boyhood in Berlin and the origins of his key ideas about personality, learning and the biogenetics of behaviour.




Psychology: The Key Concepts


Book Description

Psychology: The Key Concepts is a comprehensive overview of 200 concepts central to a solid understanding of Psychology and includes the latest recommendations from the British Psychology Society (BPS). The focus is on practical uses of Psychology in settings such as nursing, education and human resources, with topics ranging from Gender to Psychometrics and Perception.




Freud's Foes


Book Description

Freud's Foes, the latest title in the Polemics series, addresses Freud's fiercest contemporary critics. The book defends psychoanalysis (while accepting that it has inherent flaws) and argues that although today's "foes" pose as daring savants, they are only the latest wave of critiques that psychoanalysis has encountered since its controversial birth and their arguments are easily debunked.




War Machine


Book Description

This intriguing study examines Western perceptions of war in and beyond the nineteenth century, surveying the writings of novelists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, philosophers, poets, natural scientists, and journalists to trace the terms of modern thought on the nature of military conflict. Daniel Pick brings together philosophical and historical models of war with fictions of invasion, propaganda from the Great War, interpretations of shellshock and speculations about the biological value of conquest. He discusses the work of such familiar commentators as Clausewitz, Engels, and Treitschke, and examines little-known writings by Proudhon, De Quincey, Ruskin, Valery, and many others, culminating in the extraordinary dialogue between Freud and Einstein, Why War? He analyses Victorian fears of French contamination through the Channel Tunnel as well as the widespread continuing dread of German domination. And he charts the history of the pervasive European belief that war is beneficial or at least functionally necessary. A central theme of the book is the disturbing relationship between machinery and destruction. Visions of relentless technological 'progress' and the inexorable advance of the military-industrial complex often seem to distort our understanding of war, even to reduce it to a sophisticated game played out by high-precision automata. Pick explores both the reassuring and troubling aspects of such representations. Shorn of human agency or responsibility, war apparently threatens to become technologically unstoppable, the remorseless 'perfect abattoir' of the industrial age. War Machine explores the enduring historical fascination with - and recoil from -brutal mechanical slaughter, and the modern aquiescence in, and enthusiasm for (in Rilke's phrase), 'these days of monstrously accelerated dying'.




Encyclopedia of Special Education


Book Description

The Third Edition of the highly acclaimed Encyclopedia of Special Education has been thoroughly updated to include the latest information about new legislation and guidelines. In addition, this comprehensive resource features school psychology, neuropsychology, reviews of new tests and curricula that have been developed since publication of the second edition in 1999, and new biographies of important figures in special education. Unique in focus, the Encyclopedia of Special Education, Third Edition addresses issues of importance ranging from theory to practice and is a critical reference for researchers as well as those working in the special education field.




Functional Neurologic Disorders


Book Description

Functional Neurologic Disorders, the latest volume in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology series, summarizes state-of-the-art research findings and clinical practice on this class of disorders at the interface between neurology and psychiatry. This 51-chapter volume offers an historical introduction, chapters on epidemiology and pathophysiolology, a large section on the clinical features of different type of functional neurologic symptoms and disorders (including functional movement disorders, non-epileptic seizures, dizziness, vision, hearing, speech and cognitive symptoms), and then concluding with approaches to therapy. This group of internationally acclaimed experts in neurology, psychiatry, and neuroscience represent a broad spectrum of areas of expertise, chosen for their ability to write clearly and concisely with an eye toward a clinical audience. This HCN volume sets a new landmark standard for a comprehensive, multi-authored work dealing with functional neurologic disorders (also described as psychogenic, dissociative or conversion disorders). - Offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach for the care of patients with functional disorders seen in neurologic practice, leading to more efficient prevention, management, and treatment - Provides a synthesis of research efforts incorporating clinical, brain imaging and neurophysiological studies - Fills an existing gap between traditional neurology and traditional psychiatry - Contents include coverage of history, epidemiology, clinical presentations, and therapy - Edited work with chapters authored by leaders in the field, the broadest, most expert coverage available




Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism


Book Description

Our way must be: never knowingly support lies! Having understood where the lies beginstep back from that gangrenous edge! Let us not glue back the flaking scale of the Ideology, not gather back its crumbling bones, nor patch together its decomposing garb, and we will be amazed how swiftly and helplessly the lies will fall away, and that which is destined to be naked will be exposed as such to the world. Alexander Solzhenitsyn Enlightenment writer Voltaire was amazed that twelve fishermen, some of them unlettered, from an obscure place in the world called Galilee, challenged an empire through self-denial and patience and eventually established Christianity. He seriously thought that twelve philosophers or intellectuals, himself included, would do the opposite and crush Christianity. Voltaires self-appointed cheerleaders such as Diderot, Helvitius, dHolbach, DAlembert, Lametrie, and Baron Cloots, among others, tried to do just that and wrote volumes of work trying to tear down the basis of Christianity and erect an edifice of their own. Diderot in particular declared, I would sacrifice myself, perhaps, if I could annihilate forever the notion of God. Cloots wrote, We shall see the heavenly royalty condemned by the revolutionary tribunal of victorious Reason. Lametrie produced Man: A Machine, and an entire French encyclopedia was written between 1751 and 1772 by those philosophers because Christianity, to a large degree, had to go. Voltaire would send letters to his disciples and friends saying, crasez linfme. Rousseau, of course, was a disciple of Voltaire and declared that Voltaires work inspired me. The French Revolution failed. Yet like all significant revolutions before and after that period, the French Revolution indirectly had a theological root which was then a categorical and metaphysical rejection of Logos. That theological substratum has jumped from one era to the next and had and still has historical, political, economic, and spiritual ramifications. This book is about the historical and theological struggle of that conflict, which had its inception at the foot of the cross.




A Textbook of Social Work


Book Description

This textbook provides a comprehensive discussion of social work practice and its evidence-base. It strikes a balance between the need for social workers to understand the social, economic, cultural and psychological factors which give rise to clients’ problems, and the need to know how best to respond with practical measures.