The Psychology of Dementia Praecox

Fairness to Freud does not signify, as many fear, a submissive acceptance of a dogma; indeed, an independent judgment can very well be maintained alongside it. If I, for instance, recognize the complex mechanisms of dreams and hysteria, it does not at all mean that I ascribe exclusive significance to sexual trauma in youth, as Freud apparently does; still less does it mean that I place sexuality so prominently in the foreground, or that I even ascribe to it the psychological universality that Freud postulates under the impression of the very powerful role sexuality plays in the psyche. As for Freud's therapy, it is at best a possibility, and perhaps does not always meet expectations. Nevertheless, these are all side issues that disappear completely beside the psychological principles—the discovery of which is Freud's greatest reward—to which the critic does not pay enough attention. Anyone who wishes to be fair to Freud should act in accordance with the words of Erasmus: Unumquemque move lapidem, omnia experire nihil intentatum relinque. original Latin: "Leave no stone unturned; try everything, leave nothing unattempted."

As my work is often based on experimental examinations, I hope the reader will pardon me if they find many references to the Diagnostischen Associations-Studien Diagnostic Association Studies. 1 J. A. Barth, Leipzig, 1906.

C. G. JUNG.

ZURICH, July, 1906.