Robert Knight undertakes a reconciliation of the age-old dichotomy of 'determinism' versus 'free-will' and an elucidation of the manner in which psychotherapy fits into a determinist scheme of psychology. Throughout the history of human thought, the conflict between the philosophy of determinism and that of free-will has been waged under different guises and forms; but even the most rigorous determinists have been reluctant to picture man as a helpless automaton controlled by internal and external forces utterly beyond his control. This antithesis has its roots deep in prelogical thinking. Both primitive man and the human infant of today, people the world around them with all-powerful spirits and yet cling to a belief in their own omnipotence. To Knight the philosophical dilemma is largely a semantic confusion. The