Allan Hobson identified three cardinal points of Freud's Dream Theory;
1.) "that wishes are the instigators of dreams and in fact they are repressed infantile wishes"
2.) "that these infantile wishes welled up from the unconscious in sleep, and needed to be disguised and censored"
3.) "that dreams can be interpreted and they can only be interpreted correctly by the use of free association to the dream material in the transference relationship with the psychoanalyst"
Hobson made clear in the article that he felt we should dismiss Freud's Dream Theory entirely, but I don't think he did a very good job in trying to dismiss those three claims. He stated again and again that Freud's theory is untestable, and therefore unscientific. Although Freud may have only written about his own dreams and didn't test his theory on other people, that does not automatically mean that no one could ever design an experiment that tests how a person dreams. Just because there may not be conclusive evidence supporting Freud's theory at this particular moment in time does not mean that we should simply assume that he was wrong or do away with his theory all together. I don't think he gave any good reasons why wishes would not at least help to instigate dreams, or why hidden wishes, desires, fears, etc. would not play an active role in our dreams. And oftentimes when a person has a thought, desire, etc. that seems to dark, gruesome, etc. we do try to consciously repress it. So why would we not do the same thing in our dreams by actively trying to disguise or censor that same thought or desire? And perhaps we don't need a specialized psychoanalyst to interpret our dreams for us, but can we honestly deny that they might have some keen insight into our dreams that even we may not possess? I think it was very foolish of Hobson to try to dismiss Freud so quickly and easily, and I was not convinced by any of his arguments at all.
1.) "that wishes are the instigators of dreams and in fact they are repressed infantile wishes"
2.) "that these infantile wishes welled up from the unconscious in sleep, and needed to be disguised and censored"
3.) "that dreams can be interpreted and they can only be interpreted correctly by the use of free association to the dream material in the transference relationship with the psychoanalyst"
Hobson made clear in the article that he felt we should dismiss Freud's Dream Theory entirely, but I don't think he did a very good job in trying to dismiss those three claims. He stated again and again that Freud's theory is untestable, and therefore unscientific. Although Freud may have only written about his own dreams and didn't test his theory on other people, that does not automatically mean that no one could ever design an experiment that tests how a person dreams. Just because there may not be conclusive evidence supporting Freud's theory at this particular moment in time does not mean that we should simply assume that he was wrong or do away with his theory all together. I don't think he gave any good reasons why wishes would not at least help to instigate dreams, or why hidden wishes, desires, fears, etc. would not play an active role in our dreams. And oftentimes when a person has a thought, desire, etc. that seems to dark, gruesome, etc. we do try to consciously repress it. So why would we not do the same thing in our dreams by actively trying to disguise or censor that same thought or desire? And perhaps we don't need a specialized psychoanalyst to interpret our dreams for us, but can we honestly deny that they might have some keen insight into our dreams that even we may not possess? I think it was very foolish of Hobson to try to dismiss Freud so quickly and easily, and I was not convinced by any of his arguments at all.
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