BOOKREVIEWS 203

Poggeler is now responding to accusations that he originally allowed Heidegger's entanglement in politics to remain unconsidered. In that matter his book bears the imprimatur of Heidegger's attempt to read history backwardly, or to erase it. Poggeler also wants to express his "definite position vis a vis the effect of Heidegger's thinking". But he does not re-work his original text; he sandwiches it between evocative slices of recent thinking which are supposed to help us to accept or reject Heideg- ger's path. In this ambiguous attempt by Poggeler to settle account with his history with Heidegger, he emerges as living proof of a peculiar way of thinking that he learned so well from his master: Do not burn all your bridges back to past successes, just set them on fire. This book should be read against the backdrop of what Poggeler has written elsewhere: that inauthenticity is not simply something which can be conquered once and for all, but that the way to authenticity is cut along a razor's edge.

Richard J. Alapack Ielease Institute of Forensic Psychology

Wade, Carole and Tavris, Carol. Psychology. New York: Harper & Row, 1987, 700 pp + 65; $36.00

It is rare to see a review of a basic psychology text in the Journal of Phenomenological Psycholo,gy.However, this text was surprisingly submitted for review by the publisher; the editor asked me to review it; I agreed. I will first and primarily focus and comment upon those sections in the text which discuss the areas on humanistic psychology, phenomenology and existential therapy. I will then secondarily and briefly describe and comment upon the work as a general text in traditional or mainstream psychology. In their section on "the main approaches in modern psychology" in the introductory chapter on "'What is Psychology" Carole Wade and Carol Tavris make mention of Humanistic Psychology as one of the main approaches. They define humanistic psychology as "an approach to psychololgy that emphasizes personal growth and the achievement of human potential more than the scientific understanding, prediction, and 204 control of behavior" (p.19). In the section on "The Humanistic Tradition: You Are What You Become" in the chapter on "Theories of the Person and Personality," the authors introduce the term "phenomenology." They define phenomenology as "the study of events and situations as individuals experience them; in personality, the study of an individual's qualities from the person's own point of view" (p.409). Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, and Carl Rogers are cited as the leaders of humanistic psychology. General ideas of Maslow and May are very briefly described. Roger's theory of personality is covered more extensively. In their con- cluding evaluation of humanistic psychology, in the chapter on theories of personality, Wade and Tavris present two major criticisms. One "major criticism of the humanistic approach is that many of its assumptions cannot be tested because the terms that humanists use are vague" (p.411). A second major criticism is that "humanistic psychology is closer to philosophy than science, because it rests on a subjective view of human nature" (p.411). "Nevertheless, humanistic psychology has added bal- ance to psychology's view of human nature. Further, some of Maslow's and Rogers' ideas have been tested experimentally. Some have proven faulty, ... but others have been supported" (p.411 ). Finally, under their section on "Humanistic Therapies" in the chapter on "Approaches to Treatment and Therapy," the authors give short descriptions of Carl Rogers' client-centered therapy, Frederick (Fritz) Perls' Gestalt therapy and Viktor Frankl's existential therapy. They coclude by stating that "some observers believe that ultimately, all therapies are 'existential.' In different ways they may help clients determine what is important to them, what values guide them, and what changes they will have the courage to make"(p.626). It is clear from the above that, in the eyes of Wade and Tavris, humanism, phenomenology and existentialism in psychology, which are vaguely and confusedly identified as one, share (are) a subjectively based growth-oriented philosophy of life which has relevance for personality theory and which, in its emphasis on the achievement of human potential, has had a balancing effect on the field of psychology. And although they define phenomenology as "the study of events and situations as individu- als experience them," they are not cognizant of the methodological and metatheoretical implications of phenomenology for psychology. It is of interest to note that in the preceding definition of phenomenology, the term "scientific" does not come before the word "study." This is because for Wade and Tavris, "science" means "natural science." From a natural