Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #464611 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
This is an examination of the fake psychology of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, Carl Gustav Jung. The book unravels many of the key theories on which Jungian analysis is based in an attempt to show how threadbare the evidence is.

Customer Reviews

Guilt by Association, but No Science
According to the author's Acknowledgements, this is his first work in the library-bound field of the History of Science after leaving a career as a clinical psychologist and "many years of frustration" with Jung. So it's strange that the one subject that's absent from the book is psychology! What constitutes psychology? How does the field advance over time? What were Jung's contemporaries in the field doing? How do you test a good psychology in a scientific way? Noll doesn't approach these questions. Instead, the essence of Noll's argument is: Jung read Neitszche, the Nazis read Neitzsche, therefore Jung was a Nazi. As are all Pagans, Unitarians and all Germans. (In fact, the book more than verges on anti-German racism.) I guess Noll's virulence is a left-handed compliment to Jung and his work; Jung must have discovered something powerful. But the book does nothing for science. In spite of all the footnotes, this book is not much more than sensationalism and spite.

A very well documented book
Reading Jung seven years ago introduced me to psychoanalytical theories for my PhD, as well as to a psychoanalyst. I read many books from Jung that are easily avalable in bookshops or through ordering (in opposite to what the formal critics of Noll's book pretends, at least in France). Even if I, and many friends, were fascinated by Jung, the strength of his experiences, what seemed to be their authenticity, it seemed strange that this person was so wise, defaultless. Reading about his relationship with Spielrein gave me some hint that Jung was far less honest than he pretended as nothing was mentioned in his autobiography about it. This lead me to read this book and I found it very well documented, consistent with the autobiography and Jung thoughts presentation.It makes the historical background of these thoughts understandable and highlights their limits (eg, anthropological points of views that have been largely contested by the ehtnologic researcb). Noll is very honest in the sense he does not negate what scientific material Jung brought to psychiatric and psychoanalytic research before he built the project to turn psychoanalysis into a religious movement.

I don't get it
I am a practicing attorney, and recently have developed a certain interest in Jung.

I read Noll's book before I had read any of Jung's own works. Without knowing a thing about Jung, it was obvious to me that Noll was not engaged in legitimate scholarship. He was not seeking to find out anything about Jung that he did not already believe. Rather, he had set himself up as Jung's prosecutor, and then set about gathering whatever evidence -- however tangential -- was consistent with his indictment. I stress "consistent," because Noll primarily cites events which, although roughly contemporaneous with Jung's work, cannot be shown to have any CAUSAL connection to what Jung wrote. Noll's book is based almost entirely upon insinuation, rather than demonstrable proof.

When I later began reading Jung's original works, I was fairly shocked. Jung bore no resemblance to the megalomaniac Noll made him out to be. Given Noll's allegations, I expected to be cringing, far more often than marvelling, at Jung's ideas. Quite the opposite was true.

This book is a frame-up. Jung deserves a new trial.

If you have any interest in Jung, competent scholarship, or how to prove a case, I heartily recommend "Cult Fictions." It is short, understated, and sharp as a razor.