Cited in: Eric Shiraev (2010) A History of Psychology: A Global Perspective. p. 314
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It is not likely that the history of psychology can be written in the next three centuries without mention of Freud's name and still claim to be a general history of psychology... Perhaps, had Freud been smothered in his cradle, the times would have produced a substitute, It is hard to say. The dynamics of history lack control experiments.

— Edwin Boring

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It is not likely that the history of psychology can be written in the next three centuries without mention of Freud's name and still claim to be a general history of psychology... Perhaps, had Freud been smothered in his cradle, the times would have produced a substitute, It is hard to say. The dynamics of history lack control experiments." in the context of "Cited in: Eric Shiraev (2010) A History of Psychology: A Global Perspective. p. 314" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Edwin Boring" (Quotes, A History of Experimental Psychology, 1929: Edwin Boring (1929) A History of Experimental Psychology; 2nd ed. 1950) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Edwin Boring

About Edwin Boring

Edwin Garrigues Boring (23 October 1886 – 1 July 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, who later became one of the first historians of psychology.