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Dr. MacCurdy tells us in his Preface that the purpose of his book is 'to show from demonstration of the limitations and inconsistencies of Freudian formulations, that a broader system is needed', and to 'outline some tentative hypotheses to make good this need'.
He proposes to himself, in short, the rôle of candid friend to psycho-analysis. He professes himself largely in agreement with Freud's observations; his criticisms are 'an effort to modify the hypotheses deduced from his observations into a form compatible with general biological theory' (p. xiv). 'Before psycho-analytical hypotheses can be incorporated into scientific thought in general, the hypotheses themselves must be formulated logically and with internal consistency and on the other hand they must be correlated with general biological theory' (p. 5).
In setting forth these friendly aims, Dr. MacCurdy would have made a better impression on psycho-analytical readers if he had quoted Freud's opinion on this point, which is at hand in his Introduction to Narcissism. Speaking of conceptions, such as of an ego-libido and an ego-energy, Freud says: 'These are neither particularly clear, comprehensible, nor sufficiently full of content. A speculative theory of the relationships concerned would, above all, aim at gaining a sharply circumscribed conception as a foundation. But it seems to me that this is just the difference between a speculative theory and a science built up on empirical interpretations. The latter will not envy speculation its privilege of a smooth, logically impeccable foundation …' et seq. Here is a point of view which Dr. MacCurdy would probably reject, but which should in fairness have been quoted. He suggests that Freud's 'capacity as a logician is relatively weak', but ignores the alternative explanation of a deliberate mistrust of logical system building. Nothing is more natural than that minds rendered uncomfortable by fragmentary presentations, at the beginnings of a new branch