Abstract
Directly analogous to the relation between methodology and the call for a “new philosophy,” this chapter discusses the “new psychology” established by Wilhelm Wundt. From the point of view of the philosophical principles constituting the Modern and Contemporary systems of Western psychology, a pre-Kantian, (neo) Kantian, and post-Kantian grouping goes toward emphasizing the incommensurabilities found across the “Four Forces” of Contemporary psychology, the emergence of which are associated with Pavlov, Freud, Kant, and Hegel; that is, Behaviorism, Psychoanalysis, Existential-Humanistic, and the ultimately Bertalanffy’s General Systems Theory. The incommensurabilities are emphasized in terms of essential distinctions regarding structure, function, and methodology, such as between natural and human science, determinism and free will, and the principles with which each “Force” establishes ontological priority.
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Notes
- 1.
As a compromise among different readings of Nietzsche’s often epigrammatical writings, I have taken to referring to Nietzsche’s philosophy as a kind of “ecstatic naturalism.” Yet, for the purpose of Nietzsche’s “existential” philosophy as a neo-Kantian influence on Contemporary psychology, his emphasis on the individual and the value of life-affirmation suffices, and, therefore, the question of how to interpret his philosophy in relation to “naturalism” need not be decided here.
- 2.
Depending upon the attitude of the psychologist reading this: one may celebrate my pointing out that many of the so-called phenomenological psychologists commit “psychologism” by making the above noted mistake regarding phenomenology; further, one may celebrate my pointing out that the distinction between phenomenology and phenomenography will fix that mistake. Or, one may be enraged that I am saying something which goes against the political-psychological-establishment regarding “phenomenological psychology.” However, I assure you (dear reader), the fundamental failure of “phenomenological psychologists” to differentiate between phenomenology and phenomenography has led to their theoretical stagnation. For, when you have reached the point at which you are willing to denounce all objectivity, then you have reached a point at which you are completely out of touch with reality. These psychologists need to realize that it can be simultaneously true that the psychological products of your subjective relation to some event or thing may be subjectively valid, while also being objectively wrong. Jurisprudence dismisses, every day without hesitation, the kinds of judgments that cause these psychologists to falter. For example, someone kills another person; no matter how the perpetrator articulates the subjective aspects of the action, no articulation will be grounds for doubting the objectivity of the action—the victim is still dead. Suppose the perpetrator says, “When I did it the color red was present to me” or “I thought the plumber had my sandwich,” regardless of what the perpetrator says, it does not change the objective truth that the victim is dead. Now, how the perpetrator articulates the subjective aspects of their performance of the action may influence how the action is characterized—first degree murder, man slaughter, self-defense, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, and so on. However, if it is true that the perpetrator killed another person, then no subjective description of that action will change its objective truth. An example even more to the point: despite the feelings of some psychologists about what I am saying, what I am saying about the fallacy of psychologism and the distinction between phenomenology and phenomenography is still true.
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Scalambrino, F. (2018). Modernism to Post-Modernism: Method as Archimedean Point. In: Philosophical Principles of the History and Systems of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74733-0_5
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