ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, I was concerned with showing how the objections related to the valid formulation of repression aetiology can be overcome. The problem of valid causal inference is not merely related to the repression aetiology. It is related to the very process of intra-clinical testing itself. The problem is especially acute in the case of testing psychoanalytic hypotheses. Grünbaum has claimed that even though data from individual sessions can be scrutinised and may be found acceptable, no statistical generalisation of a psychoanalytic hypothesis can be accepted on the basis of clinical material (see Grünbaum, 1988, pp. 623–658). In Foundations itself, Grünbaum has taken a more rigid stance. He has denied the possibility of any kind of reliable testing on the bases of clinical data. He further claims that causal inferences psychoanalysts derive from clinical materials are fraught with serious logical fallacies and are simply logically unacceptable. In this chapter, I shall deal with some of his objections related to the fallacious causal inferences in the clinical setting.
