Exo-psychology

Timothy Leary

pp. 179-197

in: Rolf von Eckartsberg (ed), Metaphors of consciousness, Berlin, Springer, 1981

Abstract

Exo-psychology is the science which studies the evolution of the nervous system in its larval and post-terrestrial phases. Primitive, pre-Einsteinian psychology (1850–1975), although claiming to measure thinking, consciousness, and behavior, for the most part studied the adjustment-maladjustment of human beings to social rituals and culturally defined symbol systems. Appearing at a time when orthodox theology was losing its meaning for the growing class of semi-educated, psychology provided a comforting rationale for domestication, a soothing pseudo-scientific language for supporting the values of the middle class.