PARTISAN REVIEW
of making any connection between the sexual life and the psychic
structure. This strongly formulated attitude of the Report is based
on the assumption that the real reality of sex is anatomical and
physiological; the emotions are dealt with very much as if they were
a "superstructure." "The subject's awareness of the [erotic] situation
is summed up by this statement that he is 'emotionally' aroused; but
the material sources of the emotional disturbance are rarely recog–
nized, either by laymen or scientists, both of whom are inclined to
think
in
terms of passion, or natural drive, or a libido, which partakes
of the mystic
4
more than it does of solid anatomy and physiologic
function." Now there is of course a clear instrumental advantage
in being able to talk about psychic or emotional phenomena in terms
of physiology, but to make a disjunction between the two descrip–
tions of the same event, to make the anatomical and physiological
description the "source" of the emotional and then to conside.r. it as
the more real of the two is simply to commit not only the
Red~tive·
Fallacy but also what William James called the Psychologist's Falllcy..
It must bring under suspicion any subsequent generalization which
the Report makes about the nature of sexuality.
5
The emphasis on the anatomical and physiologic nature of sexu–
ality is connected with the Report's strong reliance on animal be-
4
We must observe how the scientific scorn of the "mystic" quite abates when
the "mystic" suits the scientist's purpose. The Report is explaining why the
interviews were not checked by means of narcosynthesis, lie-detectors, etc. : "In
any such study which needs to secure quantities of data from human subjects,
there is no way except to win their voluntary cooperation through the establish–
ment of that intangible thing known as rapport." This intangible thing is estab–
lished by looking the respondent squarely in the eye. It might be asked why a
thing which is intangible but real enough to assure scientific accuracy should
not be real enough to be considered as having an effect in sexual behavior.
5
The implications of the Reductive Fallacy may be seen by means of a
paraphrase of the sentence: "Professor Kinsey's awareness of the [intellectual]
situation is summed up by his statement that he 'has had an idea' or 'has come
to a conclusion'; but the material sources of his intellectual disturbances are
rarely recognized, either by laymen or scientists, both of whom are inclined to
think in terms of 'thought' or 'intellection' or 'cognition', which partakes of
the mystic more than it does of solid anatomy or physiologic function." The
Psychologist's Fallacy is what James calls "the confusion of his own standpoint
with that of the mental fact about which he is making a report." "Another
variety of the psychologist's fallacy is the assumption that the mental fact studied
must be conscious of itself as the psychologist is conscious of it."
Principles of
Psychology,
vol. I, pp. 196-7.
468
