Does it Matter That Freud Thought Shakespeare Was the Earl of Oxford?

I start my reflections on what has come to be known as the Shakespeare Authorship Question with an interrogative, “Does it matter…?” I answer that question both in the negative and in the affirmative. First the negative, No, it does not matter what Freud thought if Freud's ideas were to be the basis for our own conclusions. This would amount to subsuming our own judgment to a supposed authority, what has been called a generalization of expertise. It matters less what conclusions Freud reached, than his reasons for reaching them. While Freud is the first and, for many, the last word on all matters psychoanalytic, this is not a matter psychoanalytic. What sort of matter is it that we should wonder if Freud's views should matter? How do we know anything? What constitutes evidence that might be convincing? This takes us into the realm of epistemology, a philosophical realm to be sure, somewhat esoteric, but one which may be useful in addressing issues of certainty, uncertainty, differences of fact and of opinion, even of value.

I am held to be an agnostic on the Shakespeare Authorship Question. Agnostic means “I do not know.” Sometimes agnosticism is seen as a diplomatic stance, not taking sides in what has come to be a polarizing debate. Two competing hypotheses, the Stratfordian and the Oxfordian hypotheses, each with its own adherents. Agnosticism is a term usually used for those uncertain about the existence of God. And in regards to the Shakespeare question, there have developed orthodoxies and heresies, perhaps better reserved for theological matters, and which have proved divisive in historical retrospection. What interests me more than The Answer is what fuels the controversy. Why are the partisans so passionate and sometimes so antagonistic? The answer to that question might help us understand other controversial issues and help us understand how they might be resolved.

Doubt is the mental skill that in the modern era is held to be the way we know things; once it