Boris Sidis
Overview
 
Boris Sidis, Ph.D., M.D. (October 12, 1867 - October 24, 1923) was a Ukrainian Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...

, physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

, psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

, and philosopher of education
Philosophy of education
Philosophy of education can refer to either the academic field of applied philosophy or to one of any educational philosophies that promote a specific type or vision of education, and/or which examine the definition, goals and meaning of education....

. Sidis founded the New York State Psychopathic Institute and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
The Journal of Abnormal Psychology is a scientific journal published by the American Psychological Association.It was previously titled Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology. It publishes basic research as well as theoretical articles in the general field of abnormal behavior, its determinants,...

. He was the father of the child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...

 William James Sidis
William James Sidis
William James Sidis was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities. His IQ was estimated to be between 250 and 300 - one of the highest ever recorded - he entered Harvard early at age 11, and as an adult was conversant in over 40 languages and dialects...

. Boris Sidis eventually opposed mainstream psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 and Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

, and thereby died ostracized. He was the maternal grandfather of Clifton Fadiman
Clifton Fadiman
Clifton P. "Kip" Fadiman was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality.-Literary career:...

, the noted American intellectual.
Born in Ukraine to Jewish parents, he emigrated to the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1887 to escape political persecution.
Quotations

The principle of recognition of evil under all its guises is at the basis of the true education of man.

Philistine and Genius (1919)

The course of evolution is to a greater integration of similarly functioning ganglia.

p. 16

The general tendency of evolution is from structure to function, from bondage to freedom of the individual elements.

p. 26

Science is the description of phenomena and the formulation of their relations.

p. 11

Psychology is the science of psychic states both as to content and form, regarded from an objective standpoint, and brought in relation to the living corporeal individual.

p. 39

The psycho-physiological hypothesis is both inductively and deductively the sine qua non of the science of psychology.

p. 86

The man of genius whether as artist or thinker requires a mass of accidental variations to select from and a rigidly selective process of attention.

p. 98

Not purpose but chance is at the heart of mental life.

p. 100

The fact that psychology postulates an external material world and studies it in so far as it comes to be reflected in consciousness, points to another postulate which psychology must assume in addition, namely, the existence of an inner world consciousness.

p. 106

Psychology must postulate uniformity of interrelation of physical, physiological, and psychic processes.

p. 112

 
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