Reviews for Freud and His Mother: Preoedipal Aspects of Freud's Personality

The average rating for Freud and His Mother: Preoedipal Aspects of Freud's Personality based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-05-18 00:00:00 Sean Gordon You will hear Karl Lashley's name in both basic and advance courses on neuropsychology. Within internal histories of neuropsychology, Lashley is usually contrasted with Wernicke, Borca, and other proponents of brain localization. He is known for his arguments for equipotentiality (i.e., the view that separate brain structures can support the same functions) and the whole-brain view of brain functions (i.e., the mental functions result from orchestrated activity of the entire brain, instead of isolated activity in separate areas). He is then dismissed, in light of later research, which seems to have made a convincing case for localization of function. The story of Karl Lashley, however, is more complex and contains much more interesting information. Reading Weidman's book showed me (a) the depth of the influence that Lashley has had in the present-day state of psychology not only due to his effective attacks on behaviourism, but also for espousing the continuity of intelligence across the mental-physical, nonhuman-human, and lower-higher cognitive distinctions (b) his neglected insights about intelligence as an achievement of the brain and as the result of coordinated functioning of all the neural faculties, (c) the complex story of his career which involved his social-academic networks, his personal (non-scientific) beliefs, and his intentional construction of a public image, namely that of a pure scientist. Weidman's analysis demonstrates how Lashley's main methodological agenda for psychology - as a discipline that should be grounded in neuroscience - has certainly succeeded. He argued for the application of careful laboratory research methods, which in his time were predominantly used by physiologists, to psychological questions, which in his time were in the purview of clinicians, Introspectionists, the functional psychologists, and the rising behaviourists (particularly J.B. Watson). His argument for the continuity of the subject-matters of psychology (from neural events to phenomenal features) seems to be the received view in our time. The legitimacy of studying "lower" organisms as a task for psychology, as well as the mechanistic view of behaviour that is grounded in neurochemical and genetic factors is now hardly a matter of debate. I was personally less interested in Lashley's views regarding race, heredity, and the role of science in society. Nonetheless, I found Weidman's arguments with regard to the interaction between the personal and the scientific dimensions quite convincing. I would recommend this book to students of psychology, neuroscience, or history/philosophy of science.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-09-08 00:00:00 David Gerard This volume might best serve as a reference text for case histories. It is way out of date considering the advances in brain science in the almost 15 years since its publication. Did not hold my attention. At all. Probably great for specific look-ups.