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In his Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique, Adolf Grunbaum claimed that the arguments supporting psychoanalytic hypotheses are both logically invalid and unsound. They are invalid because they violate the cannons of inductive elimination, and unsound because the clinical data is contaminated by the suggestive influence of the analyst.In a spirited defence of psychoanalysis, Pushpa Misra asserts that Grunbaum's argument over suggestibility is not supported by textual evidence and gives her own formulation of Freud's argument to show how the problem of suggestibility can be dealt with. To counter the charge of the invalidity of the repression argument, the author addresses the two specific objections of Grunbaum: first, that repression can be a maintaining rather than an originating cause of neurotic symptoms, and, second, that by eliminating rival candidates it is possible to formulate a valid argument for repression aetiology. This book is a must-read for all those interested in the stature and reputation of psychoanalysis in the scientific world.
List of contents
Preface -- Introduction -- Part I -- The background: Popper and psychoanalysis -- The inductive criterion -- The ghost of suggestibility -- The problem of error -- Part II -- Is Freud guilty of faulty reasoning? -- Causal fallacies in psychoanalysis
About the author
Misra, Pushpa
Summary
To counter the charge of the invalidity of the repression argument, the author addresses the two specific objections of Grunbaum:. This book is a must-read for all those interested in the stature and reputation of psychoanalysis in the scientific world.
