From Gary Myers
As an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society I was surprised to read as part of Sumit Paul-Choudhury’s discussion of the shortlist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non- Fiction that “other threads of science ran through the books – the influence of Freud for example” (31 October, p 45).
Assuming that this was not a reference to Freud’s early work as a neurologist, it is worthwhile to remember that the philosopher of science Karl Popper used Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis as a prime example of pseudoscience.
The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Lectures and Conversations records this: “Freud is constantly claiming to be scientific. But what he gives is speculation – something prior even to the formation of an hypothesis.”
Ilkley, West Yorkshire, UK
