Chris Green wrote, starting by quoting from my message: >> Chris may find this whole thing rather boring, but I think there >> is still a certain interest in the fact that probably the great >> majority of the verbal slips people routinely call "Freudian" >> fail to fit a fundamental criterion for their actually being >> Freudian slips (regardless of whether one thinks the *accurate* >> application of his notion has some validity or not).
>My apologies if I was harsh, Allen. I must confess to some >fatigue with the Freud industry, pro and con. Thanks for the gracious apology, Chris. At the risk of going on boringly on this topic, I think I should make my point absolutely explicit, which I don't think I may have done before. In *The Psychopathology of Everyday Life* Freud wrote of the class of events susceptible to "psycho-analytic methods of investigation" (including appropriate slips of the tongue): "[I]n order to be included in the class of phenomena explicable in this way, a psychical parapraxis must fulfil the following conditions: ......... (c) If we perceive the parapraxis at all, we must not be aware of any motive for it...." In other words, the psychological "motive" for the unwanted substitution of one word by another must be unconscious, unknown to the person making the slip, if it is to be classified as "Freudian". This was obviously not the case with Stephen's slip. And, on his behalf, may I note that when Stephen gave another, equivalent, example and wrote "someone should study why we do this", he had his tongue very firmly in his cheek. (Now Stephen won't need to point this out, and will be free to use up his three postings for today on the other topics he is engaged with. How he finds time to do any marking is a mystery...) Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.human-nature.com/esterson/index.html http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=10 http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=57 http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=58 http://www.psychiatrie-und-ethik.de/infc/1_gesamt_en.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
