Robert M. Young Online Writings
'Science and the Humanities in the Understanding of Human Nature' 171K
This is my Inaugural Lecture as Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalytic Studies at the Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies of the University of Sheffield. In it I stand back and reflect on the respective roles of the sciences and the humanities in understanding human nature. I discuss the problematic nature of each of the terms in the title and argue passionately for the reintegration of values with science, technology and medicine. I discuss both 'the Science Wars' and 'the Freud Wars' and try to place my work in the context of these disputes. I also try to show the many ways in which writings in the sciences and the humanities interpenetrate. My argument stresses the baleful consequences of the many splits in our culture which sequester values and prevent the consideration of scientific matters in ways which include the moral social, political and ideological dimensions.