Clinical Reasoning, Grünbaum, and Freud’s “Cleverest Dreamer” Dream Interpretation

Abstract

The philosopher Adolf Grünbaum has repeatedly criticized Freud’s reasoning, claiming that much of it is overtly fallacious. One such criticism that has gone without reply concerns Freud’s controversial response to the counterwish objection to his theory of dreams, that the reason some dreams appear to represent the frustration of a wish rather than the fulfillment of one is that they actually represent the dreamer’s wish to prove Freud wrong. Grünbaum contends that in giving such a response Freud commits several glaring fallacies. But Grünbaum’s analysis is mistaken and misrepresents Freud’s thought. Contrary to Grünbaum’s interpretation of Freud’s reasoning as deductive, this reasoning is best construed as a form of “inference to the best explanation.”