[Buddha-l] Buddhism and Psychology research

[Dan Lusthaus]

Erik,

>In Europe Freud is outdated. I´ve read a discussion between
>Jacques-Alain Miller and Michel Onfray in the Philosophie Magazine

But this is exactly the point. A few decades ago psychology departments --  
much less neuroscience labs -- did not read or discuss Freud. If one wanted 
to read Freud, one had to take a course in a Religion or (in France) a 
philosophy dept. And Lacanian analysis, which is an interesting but also 
bizarre offshoot (short session, good; Lacanian theory of the unconscious 
more about being clever than insightful -- in the end only looks profound, 
actually superficial) both was and wasn't Freudian -- Derrida among others 
challenged Lacan's reading of Freud.

Today religion and philiosophy departments are no longer the place to read 
Freud -- he's harder to appropriate for the faddish théorie du jour than 
some others. It is in the halls of science -- in descriptive as opposed to 
therapeutic psychology -- that attention is once again being paid. Not 
without some resistance, of course.

But Freud is entitled to borrow that great line of Mark Twain (borrowed by 
Paul McCartney and others): "The rumors of my death are greatly 
exaggerated."

Dan