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The general tenor of this readable little book may be indicated by the following quotation:—
The possible twists in the maze of consciousness are endless and no psychologist is ever likely to find his way through them, however many trials and errors he may make. He may try to escape it, like Watson, by denying its existence, but few have the courage, or the blindness, for that counsel of despair. Yet the mere attempt to approach the problem directly brings a curious sense of weariness and repulsion—the intuition of futility. It is only the artist, edging towards the mystery, darting from tree to tree, catching glimpses instantly lost again, who can begin to shew us something of our own uniqueness (p. 80).
This uneasiness,
the author modestly says in another place,
is perhaps worth analysis, if only in order that the experts may set about expelling it (p. 7).
The first step of the 'expert', if he accepts the challenge, will probably be to investigate whether the 'uneasiness' and the 'sense of weariness and repulsion—the intuition of futility', are not subjectively determined phenomena of the author's own mind; whether, in fact, he is not afraid that psychology may fail because at bottom he hopes that it may fail—perhaps in order that we may preserve our own 'uniqueness' from the profaning process of analysis. Apart from this, the author's doubts are chiefly concerned with two problems (between which he does not perhaps distinguish as clearly as he might do), i.e. (1) What special difficulties are imposed upon psychology by the fact that it investigates the very tool and weapon of all investigation? (2) Do not all attempts at the application of psychology involve the assumption of disputable ethical assumptions? Both problems it must be admitted are worthy of serious thought. The first has already been the subject of innumerable discussions in philosophical societies and periodicals. Perhaps the safest course for the psychologist, when confronted once again with