MIND, MEDICINE AND METAPHYSICS
CURRENT LITERATURE
By William Brown
Dr. Brown, who is the Wilde Reader of Mental Philosophy in the University of Oxford, has compiled this short book (Oxford University Press, 75.,6d.) out, of a number of essays which he has written and for the most part published in the course of the last three years. They form a strangely heterogeneous collection. A disquisition on - the technique and therapeutic value Of- suggestion is followed by some hints on the control of sex, especially -.in adolescence, a report of a bizarre conversation with a hypnotised medium, a perfunctory sketch otthe psYCliplogical causes of War, some notes o,n freedom and moral obligation, an attempt to show that "deep mental analysis-" promotes " true "religion, some cautious deprecation of the methods of the ' Buchmanite Groups ' cotnbined' with ' sympathy for their ideals, and finally an encouragement to hope for immor- tality in a sense not clearly defined. Unfortunately, the range cif Dr. Brown's interests is not 'Matched, in this Soak at any :rate, by any geat- profundity
of theoretical Insight. He reveals. himself as a sympathetic and tolerant per- son, with 'a strong moral and religious sense, but, he gives us no reaspn to believe, that he has anything new or important to contribute to the science of psychology. To a large extent he is satisfied with a bowdlerised Freud. Where, as with regard to religion, he rejects the Freudian analysis he does so dogmatically and without making clear what he would put in its place. To say that "the entire universe is, of course, the same as what we mean by God" or that religion is the attitude that the whole man takes up towards reality "is not very enlightening. Throughout he is at his weakest when he tackles metaphysics. The authority of Kant oppresses him, but he takes courage from Bergson. "The reason," he says, "why I have such respect for Bergson is that he has struggled on."
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