There is a substantial prior literature on the evidential demerits of Freud's theories and therapy. Yet Edward Erwin's book does advance the debate: It not only fills significant gaps in that literature but also successfully discredits some of the most recent Freudian apologias.
Adolf Grunbaum, Research Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh
Whether one agrees or disagrees with Professor Erwin's views on Freudian theory, the quality of his thinking and writing makes this book a stimulating pleasure to read. In any serious accounting of Freudian Psychology, final or otherwise, one will have to take account of this book.
Morris Eagle, Professor of Psychology, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychology Studies, Adelphi University
A Final Accounting provides a comprehensive and judicious assessment of psychoanalysis, both as theory and therapy. His discussion of the standards by which scientists adjudicate rival theories is along worth the price of the book. Erwin's grand overview leaves little doubt about the current status of psychoanalytic theory: Despite a century of assiduous efforts by its adherents, psychoanalysis has uteerly failed to demonstrate its most important claims.
Frank J. Sulloway, Author of Freud, Biologist of the Mind
Professor Erwin is a philosopher who has for many years been casting a coldly independent eye over the field of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. In this book he gives his verdict, in a series of closely argued and well-documented chapters. He comes as closely as humanly possible to a truly independent, objective and unbiased conclusion, and his book is a landmark in this on-going dispute about Freud's true contribution to a scientific understanding of the human psyche.
H.J. Eysenck, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of London
Edward Erwin is the voice of reason itself. Cool, patient, and scrupulously fair, he weighs the strongest arguments and evidence favoring the claims of Freudian psychoanalysis. They amount to a handful of dust. And that result, Erwin shows, is unlikely to be altered by further studies. After Erwin, Freudianism stands in need not of more persuasive advocates but only of an epitaph.
Frederick Crews, principal author, The Memory Wars: Freud's Legacy in Dispute
