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Dr. Hans Furth, professor of psychology at the Catholic University of America has written a book that recalls Goethe's remark in a letter to his sister, “Forgive me for writing such a long letter. I did not have the time to write a short one.” Compressed into this slim volume is a step-by-step discussion of Piaget's and Freud's contributions. Furth is seeking a unity that binds two seemingly dichotomous thinkers, endowed with genius, who have a great deal to say to us today. Since the psychoanalytic movement has been shaken through the years with continual schisms, as Marianne Eckardt has so well described, it is a delight to read a book that attempts a unified approach in place of repeating, “My theory is better than yours,” or, “My charismatic leader can beat up yours.”
Dr. Furth's thesis is that knowledge, desire, passion, logic, action, morality, and affects are pars pro toto. He believes that the split between desire and knowledge is a mistake and a misreading of both Piaget and Freud. He recalls Piaget's statement, “Obviously for intelligence to function, it must be motivated by an affective power. A person won't even solve a problem if the problem doesn't interest him. The impetus for everything lies in interest, affective motivation. …” This “interest” is Freud's libido (desire). Where Freud and Piaget meet