Recent Publications—Books

History and Myth, by D. Cox. London,  Darton, Longman & Todd, 1961. pp.  xv + 166.  185.

The theme of this book is man's need for a unity between the inner world of the psyche and the outer world of physical life. The dominant attitude of the West, since the Renaissance, has been an overvaluation of the outer world, but in this century there is the beginning of a process of compensation, evident in analytical psychology and in modern physics.

Modern man needs more, however, than compensation. The author recognizes the value of analytical psychology in emphasizing the importance of the world of the psyche, but considers that it has failed to relate the inner to the outer world. In a critical and telling discussion, he sees Jung's concept of synchronicity as an unsuccessful attempt to forge an effective link between the psychic and physical worlds. The great festivals of earlier civilizations represented an effort to achieve a unity of myth and history, but this synthesis was achieved only in the life of Jesus, which was myth-in-history. In the Eucharist, the Christian can partake in the extension of this unity, already achieved in history, and so is able to experience the possibility of a reconciliation of his divided world.

Conditioning and Learning, by E. R. Hilgard and D. G. Marquis. Revised by G. A. Kimble. London,  Methuen, 1961. pp.  viii + 590.  605.

This standard work is an account of the facts of classical and instrumental conditioning experiments and of the theories of learning which make use of conditioning principles. The present edition has been completely revised by Professor Kimble, who has added much new material.

Of particular interest to analysts is the last chapter, in which theories and experimental results are applied to questions of personality and psychotherapy. It is pointed out that there are many similarities between the concepts of the learning theorist and the psychoanalyst, who are both historically orientated. Such concepts as stimulus generalizati