metonymy4u

Many contemporary psychologists make the mistake of conflating effect with intent. That is, they reason from the observed effects backwards to some sort of goal or objective that someone “had.” Someone who experiences recurrent chaos in relationships, school or work is presumed to be “self-sabotaging.” And if the person doesn’t endorse awareness of this, psychologists put the intent into some sort of unconscious place. Freudians put it in the drives, Lacanians in the chain of signification, others into some general rule following heuristic. This habit seems to me as misguided as the custom of putting the cause of the universe in God.