You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This is a special book indeed. One goes on hearing with monotonous regularity that Freud's theories are essentially untestable, and thus have not been scientifically appraised, and on the few occasions that this has been attempted little, if anything, was forthcoming in Freud's favour. Given this context, it is somewhat surprising that this book has not received more publicity - especially in psychoanalytic circles. This may have to do with the discomfort that many psychoanalysts feel when confronted with the Anglo-American logical positivist approach inherent in this book, with its emphasis on quantification and controlled experimentation. However, it can and has been argued that positivist and relativist positions are both valid but different methods of inquiry into human nature - albeit at opposite ends of the investigative continuum (DelMonte 1997). In this light this book offers a complementary scientific approach to answer the accusation that Freudian theory is nothing but wild, unbridled and unscientific speculation. One can see this book as a direct challenge to those psychoanalysts like Donald Meltzer (1978) who repudiate any need for psychoanalysis to come to terms with ‘scientificity’.
This publication is confined solely to Freud's theorizing. It does not address the huge corpus of neo or post-Freudian perspectives developed over the past century. Fisher and Greenberg, in their introduction, contrast the scientific empirical approach with the hermeneutic stance taken by many, if not most, psychoanalysts. They are both clinical psychologists who, throughout the text, remain faithful to the perceived merits of the empirical approach, whilst attempting to portray Freudian thought in its full complexity. This is not always easy.
In all, Fisher and Greenberg review a formidable 2500 research studies. This is achieved by expanding on their previous publication in 1977, in which approximately 1800 studies were reviewed. They were critical of faulty and dubious res