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In the early 1950s I was a resident at the Menninger School of Psychiatry and enjoyed attending a fascinating course in personality development given by a brilliant young research psychologist, Robert Holt. Since then I have avidly read his scholarly papers on Freud and his psychoanalytic theory with their refreshingly original point of view. I especially enjoyed his analysis of Freud's cognitive style, which included advice on how a reader might maximize his pleasure and knowledge in reading Freud. I therefore jumped at the opportunity to review Holt's recent book, Freud Reappraised. I was not disappointed in my high expectations for this book, even though it is not an easy book to read. It is literally packed with significant content, all of which is essential to a thorough understanding of Freud and psychoanalysis. I consider it required reading for anybody hoping to understand what Freud is saying and why he is saying it.
In this book Holt borrows heavily from his own previously published papers (between 1962 and 1985) on Freud and psychoanalytic theory. Each chapter is based on a previously published paper (which is largely reprinted in its original form), with occasional corrections, revisions, and additions. It opens with a thorough examination of Freud's “metapsychology” and also contains the beginnings of an intellectual biography of Freud. According to Holt, Freud “had to take some kind of implied stand on the fundamental questions that plague metaphysicians: What is real? How is knowledge possible? How are the mind and body related? How can we find truth? What is the nature of the universe? How can we reconcile personal truth and scientific determinism?” (p. vi).
Freud did not tackle these important basic questions directly, but wrote about them indirectly. Holt has thoroughly researched the probable sources of Freud's views on these fundamental questions. He teased out Freud's implied philosophical assumptions and linked them up with his theoretical models