Epistemology of Psychology

Abstract

After a brief introduction of the term epistemology, the chapter presents an historical overview of most influential epistemological positions, pointing out especially those aspects that have proved to be relevant to psychology or which could be relevant to its future development. Positivism seems to be an indispensable starting point given its dominance in the first half of the twentieth century, even though it first appeared as a scientific program in the mid nineteenth century, in philosophy of Comte. As a new version of positivism named logical positivism or logical empiricism (Vienna Circle) provoked quite different critiques over decades (Popper, Quine, Husserl, Critical Theory, hermeneutics, feminist theories, communitarian epistemology), it follows a section dealing with critiques of positivist claims of certainty, of induction as a preferred mode of generating knowledge, of the unity of sciences, of atomistic representational model of knowledge, and of individualistic subject of knowing. Additionally it is referred to another, humanistic epistemic culture shaped in Renaissance under the influence of revival of the ancient Greek and Latin cultural legacy, which however remained less influential in shaping further developments. In spite of that, at the turn of the twentieth century, there were philosophers and psychologists (Dilthey, Wundt) who argued for a necessity to distinguish natural and human sciences and, correspondingly, to acknowledge that social and human sciences require specific modes of knowing (understanding) oriented toward grasping meaning of human experience and symbolic products objectified in human historical and sociocultural worlds. Summarizing implications of different epistemological positions for psychology, it is stated that epistemology of psychology is characterized, on the one hand, by a substantial influence of positivism and its natural-science model of knowledge, and on the other hand, by challenges posed by psychology’s subject matter to positivism. In conclusion, it is argued for a holistic, historically based and culturally shaped relational model of knowledge capable to integrate value dimension as an indispensable feature of human experience and human activity. In this way psychology and consequently teaching psychology can do justice to their subject matter – experience and activity of human beings as historical, social, and cultural beings living in a man-made world.

Gordana Jovanović is independent academic