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No one will doubt that as yet psychiatric research is not based on as well defined principles and terminology as the exact sciences. Attempts to clarify psychiatry in its theoretical and practical aspects by the use of a purified terminology and by the evolvement of a scientific foundation which will liberate it from possible metaphysical ties should thus be welcomed by everyone interested in its progress. The author, director of the Institute of General Semantics in Chicago, gives a summary of his attempts in this direction. His contribution, however, does not move towards this goal, but rather tends to confuse the issues.
Two different aspects of his paper merit attention. One is a general revision of scientific thinking, a critique of Aristotelian logic; the other is the application of this position to psychiatry and psychotherapy. As to the first aspect, the author mainly expounds the principles of modern positivism, and the representatives of this school of philosophy will have to decide how much he contributes to the furtherance of modern epistomology or how much he simply advertizes modern terms.
The second aspect, however, concerning the technique of psychotherapy and the concepts of personality, deserves our full attention. Although general semantics is not a medical science and the author is 'not directly interested in the health, as such, of the students', his method of teaching general semantics 'can be applied to a great many life situations, particularly those involving fears, inferiority feelings, frustration, etc., and nervous tics… As a rule, in the middle of the seminar course, without ever mentioning those tics, with the acquiring of nervous balance, they disappear.' Furthermore, the author's methods apply to 'some heart, digestive, respiratory or "sex" disorders, chronic