The Second Sin

If, as the Old Testament tells us, the First or Original Sin was the knowledge of good and evil, then the knowledge of clear speech was the “Second Sin.” At Babel, God punished man for this transgression with the Divine Confusion, and we have been misleading each other ever since. Dr. Thomas Szasz believes that it is this confusion of language that has produced much of the inhumanity, intolerance, and outright stupidity which today affect everything from our politics to our sex lives.The Second Sin is Dr. Szasz’s delightful effort to dispel some of this confusion. It is a collection of penetrating, fresh, and often humorous thoughts, ranging from sex and the family to drugs, schizophrenia, and psychiatry. For example, Dr. Szasz points out that when a person acts as if he were speaking to God we say he is praying, but when he acts as if God were speaking to him we say he has “schizophrenia”—and we look to medical science to “cure” him of his “mental illness.”This book covers the remarkable range of one of America’s most original thinkers. It is an important step in the direction of clear thinking and clear speaking. And it demonstrates that the communication of a fresh, clear thought can be a joyous experience. If, as the Old Testament tells us, the First or Original Sin was the knowledge of good and evil, then the knowledge of clear speech was the “Second Sin.” At Babel, God punished man for this transgression with the Divine Confusion, and we have been misleading each other ever since. Dr. Thomas Szasz believes that it is this confusion of language that has produced much of the inhumanity, intolerance, and outright stupidity which today affect everything from our politics to our sex lives. The Second Sin is Dr. Szasz’s delightful effort to dispel some of this confusion. It is a collection of penetrating, fresh, and often humorous thoughts, ranging from sex and the family to drugs, schizophrenia, and psychiatry. For example, Dr. Szasz points out that when a person acts as if he were speaking to God we say he is praying, but when he acts as if God were speaking to him we say he has “schizophrenia”—and we look to medical science to “cure” him of his “mental illness.” A Psychiatrist Who Is An Exponent Of The Second Sin Of Clarity In Thought And Speech Seeks To Dispel Some Of The Psychiatric Humbug Of His Peers, Whom He Sees As The Last In A Long Line Of Obfuscating Authoritarians Which Reaches Back To The Tower Of Babel. Childhood -- Family -- Marriage -- Love -- Sex -- Women -- Ethics -- Education -- Language -- Classifiction -- Justification -- Significance -- Emotions -- Freedom -- Law -- Punishment -- Control And Self-control -- Personal Conduct -- Social Relations -- Medicine -- Drugs -- Suicide -- Psychiatry -- Institutional Psychiatry -- Mental Hospitalization -- Psychoanalysis -- Mental Illness -- Myth Of Mental Illness -- Schizophrenia -- Psychology -- Psychotherapy -- Professionalism -- Science And Scientism -- Therapeutic State. By Thomas Szasz. Includes Bibliographical References.