Paul Vitz

Paul C. Vitz (born August 27, 1935) is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New York University.

Career and works

Vitz is a native of Toledo, Ohio. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1957 and with a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University in 1962.

Vitz analysed liberalism and believes there is a link between fatherlessness and atheism, as he proposes in his book Faith of the Fatherless, the Psychology of Atheism (1999). The thesis of Faith of the Fatherless holds that famous believers—e.g., Blaise Pascal, Edmund Burke, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer—had strong and loving fathers, whereas their atheistic counterparts—e.g., Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Sigmund Freud, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler—all had fathers who were weak, unloving, or absent. Thus, he says, philosophers, professors, and political tyrants who denounce God do so in order to relive traumatic childhood experiences and to subconsciously seek out help rather than to explore any sort of valid or respectable reasoning process.

In his earlier book Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self Worship he analyzes selfism and contends that the field of Psychology, based on current theories and practice, is often damaging. By a series of 'blaming' incidents for childhood experiences and 'trauma', people have victimhood placed upon them and therefore become victims. Vitz has stated that the academic, or secular humanistic, idea of creativity since the 19th century has been deeply flawed.

Personal life

In an autobiographical section of Faith of the Fatherless, Vitz says that his own atheism as a young academic derived more from social conformity and a career need than from any damaged relationship with his father. In his view, his positive father relationship probably helped him to get past his temporary atheism and convert to the Catholic faith.

He is married to Evelyn Timmie Birge Vitz, who is a Professor of French at NYU. They have six children.

Publications

• Psychology As Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship (Wm. B. Eerdmans 1977, 1994 2nd Ed.)
• Modern Art and Modern Science: The Parallel Analysis of Vision, authored with Arnold B. Glimcher (Praeger, 1984)
• Sigmund Freud's Christian Unconscious, (Guilford Press, 1988)
• Censorship: Evidence of Bias in Our Children's Textbooks (Servant Books, 1986) (Broken link)
• The Course of True Love: Marriage in High School Textbooks, a Report to the Nation from the Council on Families (Institute for American Values, 1998)
• Defending the Family: A Sourcebook, edited with Stephen M. Krason (Catholic Social Science Press, 1998)
• Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism (Spence Publishing Company, 1999)
• The Self: Beyond the Postmodern Crisis, edited with Susan M. Felch (ISI Books, 2006)

See also

• Postmodern psychology

External links

• Curriculum Vitae
• Paul C. Vitz Resource Center
• Paul C. Vitz at NYU Psychology Department
• Institute for the psychological Sciences
• Truth Journal: The Psychology of Atheism