FREEDOM, FREUD and OTHER FOIBLES is an anthology of articles on a range of philosophical and scientific issues such as free will and determinism, psychoanalysis, abortion, reincarnation, addiction, judicial activism, animal rights, method acting and such authors as Shakespeare, Stanislavsky, Camus, Jung, Viktor Frankl and Christopher Bollas.

With a foreword by David Riesman, author of The Lonely Crowd. Introducing a new term to the sociological lexicon: ′postemotionalism′, Stjepan Mestrovic argues that the focus of postmodernism has been on knowledge and information, and he demonstrates how the emotions in mass industrial societies have been neglected to devastating effect. Using contempoary examples, the author shows how emotion has become increasingly separated from action; how - in a world of disjointed and synthetic emotions - social solidarity has become more problematic; and how compassion fatigue has increasingly replaced political commitment and responsibility. Mestrovic discusses the relation between knowledge and the emotions in thinkers as diverse as Durkheim, Baudrillard, Ritzer, Riesman, and Orwell. This stimulating and provocative work concludes with a discussion of the postemotional society, where peer groups replace the government as the means of social control.

The root cause of contemporary American psychological and social disorders, argues William Donohue in this major new book, is the dominant culture's embracement of a fraudulent conception of freedom. In fact, the tension between an individual liberty without limits and the social need for civility and community has created havoc in the lives of many Americans.Conventional wisdom about the nature of freedom is characterized by both the uncoupling of a concept of rights from a concept of responsibilities and by an overweening doctrine of moral neutrality. This preoccupation with individual liberty, to the neglect of other competing values, has left a trail of social discord that will be difficult to redress. Constraint of any kind is now seen as the enemy of liberty, and all that limits or burdens the individual in any way is seen as anathema to freedom.The New Freedom critically examines how this new concept of freedom developed historically and why it exploded on the American scene in the 1960s. Its impact on the deepest recesses of American society, including marriage, the family, sexuality, the schools, the churches, and the criminal justice system, are fully explored. The costs have been high. Information on the psychological and social health of Americans suggests that all is not well. But the ultimate cost, says Qonohue, may be the ultimate failure of liberty, as the fraudulent new freedom collides with the human need for community.Sure to be controversial, The New Freedom will provide policymakers, social scientists, and specialists in the family, education, and religion a compelling new perspective on old questions. The book will also appeal to general readers who seek to understand the root causes of the nation's unprecedented volume of social and psychological problems.

The first play was written in 1957 without thought of creating a series. All of the plays have been rewritten from time to time, benefiting from the author's experience in critiquing plays submitted annually in competition sponsored by the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, which in 2002 awarded Griggs its Lifetime Achievement Award. (Plays/Drama)

This work analyzes how the three key elements of a democratic society—freedom, equality, and fraternity—have been misconstrued by intellectuals and policy makers who do not respect the limitations of the human condition. Their lack of common sense has resulted in social and cultural problems rather than solutions to them. By contrast, the social teachings of the Catholic Church mesh nicely with the demands of human nature, and as such they offer the right remedy to our cultural crisis. Freedom defined as radical individualism has eclipsed the understanding that real rights are tethered to responsibilities. Equality defined as radical egalitarianism yields little in the way of equality and much in the way of state-sponsored social discord. And fraternity without the foundation of familial bonds and religious communities leaves people isolated and disoriented. Catholic teaching offers much wisdom to remedy our insufficient understanding of the elements needed for a free and flourishing society. Its common sense is greatly needed to help modern Americans rediscover the true meaning of their highest ideals.

Psychologie / Geschichte (1890).