In a recent article, Kenneth Gergen (2018) offers a summary of his work on (and against) empirical research in psychology. The article is clearly written, and there are many positive things one could say about it. However, I will focus primarily on points with which I disagree. Gergen and I share common “enemies,” but I…
Category: philosophical psychology
You Do not Stand Alone
Reflections on: Natsoulas, T. (2005). The Varieties of Religious Experience considered from the perspective of James’s account of the stream of consciousness. In R. D. Ellis & N. Newton (Eds.), Consciousness & Emotion: Agency, Conscious Choice, and Selective Perception (pp. 303-325). John Benjamins Publishing. In a brief address, published in Psychological Review in 1943, E. L. Thorndike attempts…
Systems & Theories | Readings
Weeks 1-2: Groundwork Noë, A. (2017a). Strange tools: Art and human nature: A précis. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 94, 211-213. Noë, A. (2017b). Art and entanglement in strange tools: Reply to Noël Carroll, A.W. Eaton, and Paul Guyer. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 94, 238-250. Green, C.D. (2015). Why Psychology isn’t unified, and probably never will be. Review of General Psychology,…
Interview with Raymond Bergner
Dr. Raymond Bergner is a Professor of Psychology in the Clinical and Counseling Psychology Program at Illinois State University. He received his PhD in 1973 from University of Colorado – Boulder, where he joined the movement known as ‘Descriptive Psychology’ (for an introduction to this framework, see Bergner, 2010). He has been a member of…
Interview with Jan Smedslund
Jan Smedslund is a Professor Emeritus at University of Oslo, Norway. He began his research career with experimental work on cognitive development. His collaborators include Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner. During 1967-8, he turned away from experimental work and began working on conceptual and foundational issues in psychology (Smedslund, 1991b). In 1988 he published Psycho-Logic,…