ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the work of ‘preparing the ground’ for a consideration of the problems of a ‘new existentialism.’ It shows so far that a quiet but fundamental revolution has occurred in our idea of science. The scientist of the nineteenth century saw himself, to some extent, as a man fighting a battle against the forces of self-delusion and obscurity. The modern scientist is simply coming to recognise that this vision of science was as lop-sided and prejudiced, in its way, as the vision it set out to displace. Existential psychology is simply a psychology that recognises that Abraham Maslow’s ‘need to know,’ George Bernard Shaw’s ‘appetite for a high quality of existence,’ is as fundamental to human beings as the sexual appetite or the need for social security. The existential psychologist is inclined simply to accept that creative frustration may be as important a cause of neurosis as the usual negative fears and anxieties.
