Terrors & Experts

A discussion of ways in which we may be terrorized by experts, and of the idea of expertise itself. The author challenges the conventional idea of the "self" as something to be known, and sets out to show how self-knowledge is the problem rather than the solution. In the style of his earlier books, "On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored" and "On Flirtation", the author discusses ways in which we may be terrorized by experts, and the idea of expertise itself. He challenges the conventional idea of the "self" as something to be known, and sets out to show how self-knowledge is the problem rather than the solution. By examining our wish to believe things - and people (including psychoanalysts) - the book offers a revision of psychoanalysis itself. For to take psychoanalysis seriously, Phillips suggests, is to be unable to take gurus seriously.