Abstract

In his The Foundations of Psychoanalysis (1984) Grunbaum compliments Freud on the development of the Tally Argument as an answer to a number of serious methodological criticisms, "The epistemological considerations that prompted Freud to enunciate (this argument) make him a sophisticated methodologist" (p. 128). In contrast to this position I argue that the Tally Argument and the considerations for it are hardly sophisticated: They would equally well go to demonstrate the methodological sophistication of modern-day evangelists. Furthermore, I argue that the Tally Argument does not play the crucial role that Grunbaum assigns to it. It is one of many arguments Freud used to counter criticism, but not one to which Freud gave pride of place