>Basically the whole idea of a Freudian slip at some level. Sure, just like the basic idea that the bulk of our mental processes are not amenable to introspect

>Basically the whole idea of a Freudian slip at some level. Sure, just like the basic idea that the bulk of our mental processes are not amenable to introspection is "basically right". Still, there's a distinction between ideas that influence scientific theory and actually are scientific theories. The problem is that the mechanisms proposed by Freud are often defined so broadly as to simultaneously a) prevent any useful prediction of behavior and b) allow for subsequent findings to be reinterpreted in a psychoanalytic context. In other words, it's virtually impossible to falsify any of Freud's claims. The notion of superego, for instance, is so general that literally any supervisory process can qualify, yet the id/ego/superego model utterly fails to predict human behavior. This is the hallmark of pseudoscience. Freud's saving grace is that his theories were subsequently refined into actual scientific theories. Psychoanalytic theory is to psychology as alchemy is to chemistry. Note that I'm being very serious. Explicit in alchemical theory are several ideas that were essential and seminal to the modern study of chemistry: the notion that there are elemental substances, that substances can be "transmuted" through physical means, that substances interact with each other to produce compound substances, etc. Still, it ain't science... --- P.S.: here is an answer I posted to cogsci.stackoverflow about what Freud got right. http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/a/8368/2926 http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/a/8368/2926