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On Hijacking Science (E. E. Gantt & R. N. Williams)

I have written a review and summary of this book on Medium. In future posts, I am planning to select specific passages from the book and explore questions regarding science, scientific communication, and scientism. This slim, engaging, and valuable book belongs in the book series, Advances in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, edited by Brent D. Slife. It consists of eight chapters by various authors, in addition to a foreword by the series Editor, a preface by…

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Experimental Psychology of Culture

It is, for understandable reasons, difficult to hear, ‘What you’re doing is not what you think/say it is.’ A message like this is not likely to evoke a friendly response; it is unlikely to be seen as a friendly remark. In essence, the message does not deny the activity—’Yes, you are doing something’—but rather denies the interpretation assigned to the activity. This is my attitude toward the cognitive/experimental psychology of culture, although I must admit…

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Conversations & Positions

We shouldn’t think about conversations only as exchanges of information. Nor should we think about our positions in conversations only as givers and receivers of information. Too much emphasis on information overshadows the fact that our position in conversations are also tied with power, rights, and duties. For example, in a father-son conversation, we could recognize the father’s duty to tell the truth, just as we could recognize the son’s trust as part of his…

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Jeff Sugarman on Psychologism

In his Chapter, An Historical Turn in Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, Jeff Sugarman (2019) begins by distinguishing three different approach to historiography (borrowing from Nikolas Rose). Among the three approaches, he introduces and adopts ‘critical history’. One of the aims of critical history is to explicate styles of reasoning that are operating in the background of scientific activities. Styles of reasoning (Alistair C. Crombie; Ian Hacking) provide conditions of possibility for research questions, methods, and…

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Systems & Theories Class (Fall 2019)

What was unique about this semester: We discussed Brian Haig’s (2014) Investigating the Psychological World. A few students got involved with the book, but I think most students focused only on the chapter they were responsible for. I kept returning to the question, Why did Haig write this book? (especially given that psychological researchers don’t need to read such a book to perform their research activities). And I wanted the students to at least be…

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