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This book, the author tells us in his preface, 'will make no attempt to follow up the meanderings of doctrine as governed
by historical and extrinsic influences, cultural, political, theological, personal, and otherwise. Instead, it will everywhere deal mainly with the breaking of new ground, be this for better or for worse. Mere relapses and restorations—even under new names—will but little concern us. We aim at depicting not the waves, but the whole tide; not the course of psychology, but its development. To change the metaphor, we hope to indicate the chief assets, as also liabilities which have been accumulated, and so to draw up a fair and square balance-sheet.'
Written in a style which is considerably more square than fair, the book is divided into five parts entitled respectively: What Psychology Is About, What The Psyche Can Do, How The Psyche Is Constituted, What Follows What, What Goes With What. In fact, all about what's what.
There is little enough about psychoanalysis, which is perhaps just as well. The author can have only a very imperfect acquaintance with the subject as the following passages will suffice to show:
'But when Freud came into the scene he took the very original step of proclaiming sex—in the broadest sense of this word—to constitute the sole object of human volition' (author's italics).
'After this fashion the classical triumvirate of fundamental motives, which were directed to the preservation of Self, Family, and Society (p. 177) were startlingly reduced to the second of these alone. Having taken this great initial step of discarding two out of the three fundamental motives, the further development of the psychoanalytic doctrine has largely consisted in reintroducing them. To the love of family Freud proceeded to add (in 1914) the love of self, investing this tendency with the romantic name of Narcissism. And eighteen years later he takes another stride, far more momentous still. He brings back the other great motive which he