Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis III 1922 1.djvu/80

 72 BOOK REVIEWS

committing ourselves to the doctrine of ' expressive desire ' (as it may perhaps conveniently be called). Even here, moreover, the conclusions seem to be advanced, so to speak, in vacuo: there is a total absence of illustrative material and the reader is left without assistance in the task of working out these practical consequences in their application to actual cases.

All this of course docs not prove the incorrectness of Professor Putnam's views; it indicates however the necessity of much further detailed study before they can be definitely accepted.

The insistence with which Professor Putnam dwells upon 'the necessity of metaphysics', in spite of the little practical use to which he puts his doctrine in his published cases, cannot but raise a suspicion that in advancing his philosophic views he was under the influence of certain psychic factors, ol which he was not, or was at best only partially, aware. It would be fascinating, though of course quite out of place here, to speculate upon the nature of such unconscious factors. We must confine ourselves, in passing, to the single suggestion that the influences which led to Professor Putnam's philosophical position are to a large extent the same as those which enabled him to welcome the method and results of Psycho-Analysis in general; inasmuch as he saw in Psycho-Analysis as a method of psychic integration a potent weapon for the attainment of more complete and more harmonious 'self-expression' than would otherwise be possible.

Professor Putnam's position has certain important elements in common with that ofjimg; but differs from Jung's, first, in that it is much more clearly expressed and defined, secondly (and this is the more important point), that in Professor Putnam's case metaphysical leanings are never allowed to obscure the clear recognition of the interplay of primitive — and above all sexual — influences. Professor Putnam is indeed never tired ol emphasising 'the importance of these latter influences and of repeating that his views are to be regarded as extensions rather than as modifications of psycho-analytic theory.

He is also able to sympathise with Adier; though here again only in so far as Adler's work can be regarded as affording an addition to, and not a substitute for, the doctrines of Freud. In accordance with his own philosophical views, he is inclined to regard 'feelings of inferiority' as largely due to an intuitive comparison o( each individual effort with the innate feeling of the greater and more successful effort that we are capable of making.

Even though we may not agree with the more metaphysical aspects of Professor Putnam's teaching, there 'is much to be learnt from the portions of the book devoted to tiis subject — more especially in a realisation of the modesty and open-mindedness appropriate to the present stage of the development of Psycho-Analysis. Epoch-making as

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