- Joined
- Feb 28, 2008
- Messages
- 113
- Reaction score
- 0
Hey guys!
Ever since college i had great difficulty choosing a career for myself. The problem is usually i am interested in everything at once. I am what could be best described as a Philosopher. I spend majority of my time thinking about various abstract issues.
Psychology had been an interest of mine for a long time now and i read a number of books on the topic. However i just can't seem to pin point exactly where my passion is. Maybe you could help.
I am interested in evolution/atheism/religion theories(why people believe)/all branches of philosophy/social psychology/. I am also considering clinical or being a professor.
I consider myself a hardcore skeptic and i usually find myself to be anti-religion. Philosophy had made me very rational and the words like "spiritual" just make no sense to me anymore.
That is not to say however that i don't take emotions seriously. I love theories about emotions.
My materialist view of the world led me to try hard science like chemistry but within a few weeks i realized i hate memorizing rules, i need a more abstract theoretical field dealing with people/philosophy.
How does skepticism go along with clinical psychology? A lot of psychologists i see seem to be quite irrational in my eyes and it scares me. I cannot afford to spend my time listening to bull**** in grad school. I hope someone can comfort me that most clinical stuff is not superstitious or pseudo-scientific(like Jung). Don't get me wrong Jung/Freud had some great ideas but a lot of it seems to me just empty speculation having no basis in reality.
What scares me the most lately is interest of psychologist in eastern philosophy such as Buddhism(which i studied extensively) which in my opinion is an inferior philosophy by modern standards and it pains me to see such irrational philosophy dominate so much of psychological books i see on the shelves.
In my opinion rationality and rude awakening to reality is the real therapy(not woo woo let go of desire bull**** which never works due to incompatibility with how we are designed by evolution)
In short does atheism/skepticism/determinism/trans-humanism fit with clinical practice? Are there people here that share those views?
Also can someone recommend a good therapy/clinical psychology book written by an Atheist or from that perspective?
To give you an example where i am coming from, i read Viktor Frankls two books recently(mans search for meaning/the doctor of the soul) and while it has great ideas it also has a lot of wishful thinking. Like he overemphasized the will to meaning as if it is out primary drive(come on now we all know its bull****). Or with Jung and his fairytales and superstition.
Can someone please tell me clinical psychology nowdays is much more rational and scientific?
That has been one of the only things that turned me of as of lately.
I'd love to hear your responses. Any comments are appreciated.
Ever since college i had great difficulty choosing a career for myself. The problem is usually i am interested in everything at once. I am what could be best described as a Philosopher. I spend majority of my time thinking about various abstract issues.
Psychology had been an interest of mine for a long time now and i read a number of books on the topic. However i just can't seem to pin point exactly where my passion is. Maybe you could help.
I am interested in evolution/atheism/religion theories(why people believe)/all branches of philosophy/social psychology/. I am also considering clinical or being a professor.
I consider myself a hardcore skeptic and i usually find myself to be anti-religion. Philosophy had made me very rational and the words like "spiritual" just make no sense to me anymore.
That is not to say however that i don't take emotions seriously. I love theories about emotions.
My materialist view of the world led me to try hard science like chemistry but within a few weeks i realized i hate memorizing rules, i need a more abstract theoretical field dealing with people/philosophy.
How does skepticism go along with clinical psychology? A lot of psychologists i see seem to be quite irrational in my eyes and it scares me. I cannot afford to spend my time listening to bull**** in grad school. I hope someone can comfort me that most clinical stuff is not superstitious or pseudo-scientific(like Jung). Don't get me wrong Jung/Freud had some great ideas but a lot of it seems to me just empty speculation having no basis in reality.
What scares me the most lately is interest of psychologist in eastern philosophy such as Buddhism(which i studied extensively) which in my opinion is an inferior philosophy by modern standards and it pains me to see such irrational philosophy dominate so much of psychological books i see on the shelves.
In my opinion rationality and rude awakening to reality is the real therapy(not woo woo let go of desire bull**** which never works due to incompatibility with how we are designed by evolution)
In short does atheism/skepticism/determinism/trans-humanism fit with clinical practice? Are there people here that share those views?
Also can someone recommend a good therapy/clinical psychology book written by an Atheist or from that perspective?
To give you an example where i am coming from, i read Viktor Frankls two books recently(mans search for meaning/the doctor of the soul) and while it has great ideas it also has a lot of wishful thinking. Like he overemphasized the will to meaning as if it is out primary drive(come on now we all know its bull****). Or with Jung and his fairytales and superstition.
Can someone please tell me clinical psychology nowdays is much more rational and scientific?
That has been one of the only things that turned me of as of lately.
I'd love to hear your responses. Any comments are appreciated.
