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The author wanted to form a more exact judgment of Freud's teachings. On the other hand he recognized that few had ever made this attempt in a spirit of impartiality or after adequate training in normal psychology. The reaction of nearly all Freud's followers had been an emotional one.
He then proceeds to display his spirit of impartiality first by dealing with Freud the man. He is not a trained psychologist, he ignores or despises current psychology, but contempt is often the cloak for ignorance. He suspects that Freud depicts 'the dim recesses of his own soul, ' within which affection conflicts with enmity, generosity with despotism, inferiority with ambition, and the volatile, volcanic temperament of the artist with the man of science.
As a boy no doubt he was subjected to all the indignity and contempt inseparable from an anti-Semitic atmosphere. In his followers, too, a lack of mental balance is notable, and at least three suicides (!) are on record within the narrow range of Freud's own psycho-analytic circle in Vienna.
Freud has founded a school of which he is the despotic, infallible, quasi-papal head. As a leader he has been compared to the leader of a herd who drives out any members who attempt to usurp his authority. This attitude his enemies ascribe to ambition and intolerance, his devotees to the necessity of protecting his teachings from charlatanry.
Quite dishonestly he then quotes a passage from Beyond the Pleasure Principle dealing with the death instinct which Freud specifically states is purely speculative, and gives to his hearers the impression that Freud is speaking of his whole teaching. Thus: 'I might be asked whether I am myself convinced of the views here set forward, and if so how far. My answer would be that I am neither convinced myself, nor am I seeking to arouse conviction in others. More accurately, I do not know how far I believe in them'.
In Freud's hands hypnosis did not prove uniformly successful; his experience was, it conc