above reason and reality; he is still being manipulated by his social metaphysical problem, in his very effort to defy
it. A patient cannot reasonably proceed on the premise that if any projected action of his might elicit approval
(which he still neurotically craves), then he will abstain from taking that action, irrespective of how rational the
action might be in its own terms. He can eliminate his social metaphysical impulses only by eliminating the self-
doubt that is their cause; and he can eliminate his self-doubt only by learning to form and to act on his independent,
rational judgment.
Values and Psychotherapy
The belief that moral values are the province of faith and that no rational, scientific code of ethics is possible, has
had disastrous effects in virtually every sphere of human activity. But the consequences of this belief have been
particularly acute for the science of psychology.
Central to the science of psychology is the issue or problem of motivation. The key to motivation lies, as we have
seen, in the realm of values. Within the context of his inherent needs and capacities as a specific kind of living
organism, it is a man's premises—specifically his value—premises—that determine his actions and emotions.
The existence of neurosis, of mental and emotional disturbances, is, I submit, one of the most eloquent proofs that
man needs an integrated, objective code of moral values—that a haphazard collection of subjective or collective
whims and precepts will not do—that a rational ethical system is as indispensable to man's psychological survival
as it is to his existential survival.
The paradox—and the tragedy—of psychology today is that values is the one issue specifically banned from its
domain.
The majority of psychologists—both as theoreticians and as psychotherapists—have accepted the premise that the
realm of science and the realm of ethics are mutually inimical, that morality is a matter of faith, not of reason, that
moral values are inviolately subjective, and that a therapist must cure his patients without appraising or challenging
their fundamental moral beliefs.
It is this premise that must be challenged.