tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post3858014423684311698..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: The (lawless) laws of (human) natureAnne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-42808909335148614992010-01-01T08:23:01.305-05:002010-01-01T08:23:01.305-05:00Thanks for another substantial reaction to our blo...Thanks for another substantial reaction to our blog, John. We did not intend to defend nonsense. But every era's cutting edge is almost by definition a mixture of sense and nonsense, or at least non-sense. There are usually grains of truth, even if mis-perceived as later science would show<br /><br />Freud and Skinner and others of various ilks thought that very early experience was important in life. But our current DNA-obsessed era has implicitly adopted the view that genes (often single-genes) inherently determine each person's nature. So our comment was meant to point out that there was reason to believe that early experience was important and that more and more 'modern' evidence is showing that to be so.<br /><br />It is, we think, more challenging to explain how genes-as-enablers work and evolve than genes-as-determinants. To a great extent, we're stuck in the latter as a product of the history of genetic research.<br /><br />So, Freud was who and what and when he was, and has been discredited on his own merits, so to speak. But the whole world accepted his ideas, yes, including his mumbo-jumbo, for decades. There were grains of truth in his various writings which, as with today's science and its own component of mumbo-jumbo and self-importance, we need to filter, too.<br /><br />And think how many scientists spent much of their income on their personal psychotherapist because they believed Freud was profoundly right! Now, we spend our funds on our personal trainer perhaps, but we may have to relearn the lesson that experience and environment are as fundamental as genes in the nature of life.<br /><br />Anyhow, thanks again for your comment!Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-9999099825189433482010-01-01T02:49:57.884-05:002010-01-01T02:49:57.884-05:00You are willing to associate The Mermaid's Tal...You are willing to associate The Mermaid's Tale (MT) in any way with with the fraud Freud? Sheesh! What can't he be given undeserved credit for? There is NOTHING in Freud that comes even close to MT, all attempts at revisionism considered. You have an important, nuanced message; don't lose it with some alleged association with Freudian nonsense.John R. Vokeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03822243132435056442noreply@blogger.com