Review of Mystictism

Abstract

Reviews the book, Mysticism, Freudianism and Scientific Psychology by Knight Dunlap. This book may readily be classified as being of two parts: destructive and constructive. Professor Dunlap has little use for Mysticism and Freudiansm, so the first two chapters on these subjects are destructive in nature, while the third chapter or constructive part deals with the foundations of Scientific Psychology. Anything to be scientific must be, like Scientific Psychology, founded upon certain scientific procedure. Science must start from an empirical basis of the facts of experience; must form, according to the law of parsimony, a working hypothesis, subject to experimental investigation, into which the observed facts must fit, and must pay extreme care to significance of terms. Such principles readily exclude at once the dangers of Mysticism and pave the way for a genuine physiological psychology or psychobiology. While being opposed to the Freudian movement, the author asserts the opinion, however, that its final result may be beneficial. Just as Christian Science has tremendously accelerated the progress of scientific medicine, so psychoanalysis, by compelling psychology to put its own house in order, will eventually help in the development of Scientific Psychology. But.. In the fear that many may be deluded into the "short-cut" methods of Mysticism and Freudianism rather than adhering to the slower but more solid procedure of science, this book was written. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)