Revolution In Mind

Abstract

GEORGE MAKARI: Revolution In Mind. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2008, 613 pp., $32.50, ISBN 978-0-06-134661-3. The title of this book may be a droll double entendre-part reference to the never-ending transformation of theories and discoveries regarding the essence and intricate workings of the human mind; part reference to the passionate endeavors of the brilliant poets, playwrights, novelists, philosophers, and scientists dedicated to the intellectual odyssey of sparking a worldwide revolution in our understanding of humankind's inner life. The zeal with which they pursued their passions clearly suggests they had a lofty revolution in mind. The author of this captivating book is George Makari, the director of Cornell's Institute for the History of Psychiatry and a faculty member of Columbia University's Psychoanalytic Center. Since this book is a history of the psychoanalytic movement, it is perforce a professional biography of its founder and spiritual leader, Sigmund Freud. It is a tribute to the meticulous scholarship of the author that many fascinating minutia intersperse the text with some of the more salient events and characters that shaped the growth and influence of psychoanalysis. For example, this reviewer learned for the first time that Sigmund Freud's actual name at birth was Sigismund, and Wilhelm Fliess, at one time one of Freud's closest friends and collaborators, came to believe that Freud wanted to kill him. From humble and impecunious beginnings as a zoologist writing about his research of eel gonads, Freud, after a stint of study with Charcot in Paris, avidly plunged into the world of the unconscious, and in 1900 published his seminal Interpretation of Dreams, a highly introspective work based on his self-analysis. Freud's genius for unbridled speculation and his trenchant heterodox interpretations of the inner workings of the human mind drew the attention and admiration of scientists, intellectuals, and physicians. A coterie of such individuals coalesced to form the Wednesday Psychological Society, described by the author as a loose confederation of heretics. Although one might expect that such an august group, led by the redoubtable Dr. Freud, would be capable of civil and rarefied discourse on matters dealing with the mind, the author's interesting description of this group's history quickly disabuses the reader of this unfounded expectation. Members went to great lengths to prove their bona fides by presenting their pet theories. Often, they were exposed to invasive vituperation and ad hominem attacks from adversarial group members. Some members were so intimidated by the rancorous exchanges they never dared to present to the group or decamped altogether. The many interesting and well-told tales of this unseemly underbelly of the psychoanalytic movement will capture the imagination of readers and justify the author's contention that his book is less the story of one man than the history of a series of heated intellectual contests. These gladiatorial intellectual contests were continued in the arena of the deliberations of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) over such issues as theory, therapeutic technique, and the suitability of certain members. …