"Blatant, fundamental error about human feeling and thought has been an entrenched part of philosophy from its start. The vast magnitude of that burden on philosophic reasoning remains unnoticed." According to psychologist-theorist Dr. Kenneth Isaacs, ABPP, "The false beliefs, that emotions are subordinate to ideas and interfere with our minds, have been carried forward to modern times without serious challenge. Over millennia, the comfortable familiarity of that misunderstanding made it accepted within philosophical beliefs as an unquestioned axiom-thus making it invisible. None discerned the falsehood. None corrected the error."
"Because basic elements, within each field of study, always pervade everything in that field, philosophers' conceptions of mind and mental products were needlessly encumbered-twisted by error over these many years. Intricate logic did not compensate for a basis consisting of partial or false facts. We are only beginning to perceive the degree to which philosophy has isolated itself from truths by its long-standing defective view of mind."
"Unfortunately, psychology espoused those errors in philosophy, as if they were established fundamental truths. The effects of that espousal continue to be pernicious to every school of thought in modern psychology," he continued. "Freeing all psychologies of this error means rewriting to correct errors in a lot of current theory within all schools of thought.
"Adopting corrected knowledge of mental processes improves psychological theory. Everything is changed to some extent. We gain better understanding of health and illness. Diagnosis is clarified. Psychotherapy becomes much more effective. But far more important," he says, "preventing psychological disorders becomes a feasible project. Preventing instead of treating illnesses will ultimately eradicate many psychological disorders."
Isaacs says, "Philosophy's influence on many other fields included the same unfortunate bestowal of those misconceptions. Correcting the errors will benefit all those fields. As one instance, theories of how people make decisions could be sufficiently clarified for artificial-intelligence workers to find and solve the current major problem preventing creation of a HAL (a human-like computer brain). Without the correction, it will remain impossible. The specialists in that field do not yet seem to know the question."
"Modern neuroscience findings bring support to the crucial psychological knowledge that emotions and ideas are concurrent, independent processes. The two hemispheres of the brain perform different tasks that have separate, equally important functions. There is no serious dispute about such matters. But somehow, these clear facts have not been integrated into either philosophic or psychological understanding." He pointed out that, "Description of the helpful new knowledge and its implications are readily available to the general public as well as to professionals and students through the new, user-friendly website www.usesofemotion.com"
Dr. Isaacs provides explanatory materials on that web site. Some materials are written for the general public and college introductory classes. Some are for professionals in psychology and philosophy, or for graduate school study in those fields. Two of Isaacs' books are available for downloading. Other books and journal articles will be added as soon as possible.
Isaacs, who has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Chicago, is widely known in the United States and Europe from fifty years of helping patients, students, and professionals through clinical practice, lectures, writings, and leadership roles in psychology's professional associations. He is recognized in several Who's Who books including Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Science and Engineering, and Who's Who in the World. To learn more about his vision of dramatic advances in psychology for the 21st century, visit Dr. Isaacs's website at www.usesofemotion.com
