Link: EBF Book Reviews.
By E. James Lieberman, MD
"...We talk about strong-willed people and we act as though we have free will. The idea is old but elusive and controversial. Like music, family, and love, we recognize it better than we can define it. Sigmund Freud left it out of his psychology, panning will, like religion, as mostly illusion. Without will (which is conscious and free, unlike unconscious wish, id impulse or instinctual drive) there can be no personal responsibility, no sin or virtue, ethics or morals. Pride and guilt lose meaning. Psychologists before and since have reckoned with will, e.g. William James, Otto Rank, Jessie Taft, Rollo May, and Irvin Yalom. If will is only an illusion, it appears to be an essential one. ...read more on site
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