The Experts below are selected from a list of 312 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

Shimon Edelman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Six Challenges to Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
    Frontiers in psychology, 2012
    Co-Authors: Shimon Edelman
    Abstract:

    Psychology is not a young science anymore: as the textbooks tell us, it won its independence, from philosophy, a century and a half ago, through the efforts of such luminaries as Gustav Fechner and William James. And yet, if an offhand remark by a long-dead philosopher on Psychology’s conceptual confusion still touches a raw nerve in some of us psychologists, it is probably because Psychology’s intellectual roots have been all along, and will likely remain, firmly planted in the philosophy of mind. Philosophy and Psychology may be seen as rivals insofar as each counts the other as a proper part of its subject matter. This standoff can, however, be resolved in a peaceful and productive manner, if we only realize that psychological science and the philosophy of mind are also natural partners, because these disciplines have joint custody over some of the most daunting – and most exciting – questions that humanity ever dared to contemplate. This partnership is too precious to be treated casually: arguably, the most momentous theoretical advances in Psychology are typically motivated by deeply Philosophical considerations, and the best thinking in the philosophy of mind is inspired by, and reflects back upon, scientific findings and theories. An exemplary approach to the relationship between philosophy and Psychology is the one advocated by Quine (1969, pp. 126–127): My position is a naturalistic one; I see philosophy not as a priori [...] groundwork for science, but as continuous with science. I see philosophy and science as in the same boat – a boat which, to revert to Neurath’s figure as I so often do, we can rebuild only at sea while staying afloat in it. There is no external vantage point, no first philosophy.

Jeff Sugarman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • An Historical Turn for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
    Re-envisioning Theoretical Psychology, 2019
    Co-Authors: Jeff Sugarman
    Abstract:

    Theoretical and Philosophical psychologists have made tremendous strides in bringing philosophy and critique to bear on psychological understanding. This chapter draws attention to a vein of work that supplements Philosophical and critical analyses with studies of historical particularities in which the assumptions, aspirations, and strategies of psychologists take shape. By illuminating the conduct of Psychology in the context of historically situated research programs and practices, this vein of work brings added clarity, force, and relevance to purely Philosophical and critical analyses. Informing arguments evidentially with history and thick descriptions of concrete particulars can help make what theoretical and Philosophical psychologists have to say more convincing. To illustrate, psychologism is presented as a style of reasoning that has dominated Psychology and set the agenda for what counts as psychological phenomena and how they are to be investigated and understood. The chapter begins by defining styles of reasoning and their characteristics. Psychologism is then proposed as a style of reasoning, its assumptions are explained, and particularities of its procedure are described that create a possibility in which psychological properties are made intelligible and achieve ontological status. This is followed by an illustration using the research of attitudes.

  • society for theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
    Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2010
    Co-Authors: Jeff Sugarman
    Abstract:

    The Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is Division 24 of the American Psychological Association (APA). The organization is committed to the following: furthering theoretical and Philosophical work in disciplinary and professional Psychology; to the recognition of such work as fundamental and indispensable to all psychological inquiry and practice; and to making Psychology more responsive to Philosophical and other forms of scholarship and criticism. The society promotes theoretical and Philosophical Psychology as a distinct specialization within Psychology, a specialization that has broad applicability across the domains of psychological study and practice. Knowledge of the theory and philosophy of Psychology can inform the orientations of other areas of Psychology and provide means for disciplinary self-critique. For this reason, the society also advocates for the importance of theoretical, Philosophical, and historical education in programs of academic Psychology. Keywords: Philosophical Psychology; Psychology organization; theoretical Psychology

  • Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology - Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
    The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2010
    Co-Authors: Jeff Sugarman
    Abstract:

    The Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is Division 24 of the American Psychological Association (APA). The organization is committed to the following: furthering theoretical and Philosophical work in disciplinary and professional Psychology; to the recognition of such work as fundamental and indispensable to all psychological inquiry and practice; and to making Psychology more responsive to Philosophical and other forms of scholarship and criticism. The society promotes theoretical and Philosophical Psychology as a distinct specialization within Psychology, a specialization that has broad applicability across the domains of psychological study and practice. Knowledge of the theory and philosophy of Psychology can inform the orientations of other areas of Psychology and provide means for disciplinary self-critique. For this reason, the society also advocates for the importance of theoretical, Philosophical, and historical education in programs of academic Psychology. Keywords: Philosophical Psychology; Psychology organization; theoretical Psychology

Dan Lloyd - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Grand challenges in theoretical and Philosophical Psychology: after Psychology?
    Frontiers in Psychology, 2010
    Co-Authors: Dan Lloyd
    Abstract:

    Psychology is the rollercoaster of the sciences. In its brief history, Psychology has swung through many -isms, alter-nately embracing and rejecting the widest variety of assumptions and first principles. In the decades ahead, Psychology is once again facing metamorphoses, in its tectonic collision with neuroscience. This changing landscape is of profound significance for Psychology, transforming the very idea of the discipline as well as providing new opportunities and chal-lenges for many of its historical and contemporary offshoots and subfields. In one sentence, the grand challenge facing Psychology is simply this: What will the discipline of Psychology be in the year 2020, in 2030, and beyond? (These decades are not so far away.) Accordingly, the first challenge is definitional: What is Psychology? Setting aside the dictionary definitions and their academic reifications, what at this point is the proper topic of Psychology as a science? Is subsumption into the neuro-sciences the appropriate terminus, or will Psychology stake out an autonomous domain of hypotheses and theories? If the latter, what will be the metaphysical and methodological commitments of the autonomous discipline, distinct from both brain and the antiquated soul? This existential question has several variants: In clinical Psychology, what will remain of the concepts of mental health and illness? How will the constructs of self and other, choice and will, and the other core ideas of mental integrity, play out in the years ahead? How should the classification schemes of clinical Psychology evolve? Patients and clinicians both appeal to folk psychological constructs in describing the experiences of healthy and ill individuals. How should folk-inflected concepts (like pain, depression, happiness, etc.) change? In cognitive Psychology, what will “cognitive” denote? Computation served as model and metaphor for half a century. Will computation comfortably settle into the mold of neural networks? Will neural network models find a useful and informative middle ground between biological realism and loosely constrained abstraction? In developmental Psychology, how does an emerging understanding of the developing brain affect models and theories of psychological growth? How does the genomic revolution reconfigure the relationship of innate and environmental influences in development? Since the brain never stops changing, how will concepts of development find application at every stage in human life? In social Psychology, how will neuroscience (as theory and as folk metaphor) reconstitute the social world? Will technologies like “brain reading” and cloud computing transform human relationships and institutions? In comparative Psychology, the decades ahead will offer many opportunities to consider non-Western conceptions as alternative frameworks for a neuroscientifically informed Psychology. Will alternative conceptions of health and illness, modes of mental activity, relations of mind and body, etc., emerge as more appropriate descriptors in Psychology? In addition to the biological turn in the classic subdisciplines of Psychology, in recent years several new theoretical di-rections have emerged, not necessarily tied to the upwelling of neuroscience. These have enriched the field, but are neither static nor outmoded. These overlapping and interacting themes should also be considered in their millennial form: Phenomenology: The project of “naturalizing phenomenology” offers the prospect of new explananda and sometimes new strategies of explanation in Psychology. What methods and issues from phenomenology might inform a new Psychology in the golden age of brain science? Embodiment: From several directions in recent years, driven by both philosophy and empirical science, the physical and bodily setting for behavior has emerged as a crucial constraint on any model of Psychology. How does embodiment revise the concepts and methods available to a scientific Psychology? Ecological Psychology: Just as Psychology depends on the body, both brain and body exist in a rich actual environment; the perceptual Psychology of Gibson and his followers challenge every theory in perception to accommodate to “ecologically valid” settings. Can this research program illuminate issues and ideas in new ways in this era of cognitive neuroscience? Evolutionary Psychology: The ultimate context for Psychology is evolutionary; describing and explaining behavior as adaptation might reorganize the discipline of Psychology, and root it in genetics. Will evolutionary Psychology ultimately conform to the frameworks of other branches of Psychology? How will the bridge from gene to brain to behavior ultimately be constructed? Psychology is changing with these new influences and confluences. So also are several cognate disciplines, each of which faces its own challenges of definition and direction. These cognate disciplines can also cross-fertilize Psychology, and cognate reconfigurations should be considered in their broadest psychological implications: Cognitive literary studies: The act of writing and reading, refracted through the genres of poetry, narrative, etc., and further refracted through the practices of diverse times and cultures, has become the theme of a lively new discipline in itself. Does this approach to literature point to new issues and concepts for Psychology overall? Cognitive musicology: Like story-telling, music making seems to be universal in the human community (and rare among other species). Music might reflect basic functions of mind and brain; can the cognitive science and neuroscience of music illuminate broader issues in Psychology as well? Cognitive studies of religious belief: Religious belief and practice cut across Psychology with examples of behavior and cognition that defy ordinary rules of logic and practical reasoning. In their exceptionality, can religious behaviors reshape ideas about psychological processes in “rational” animals? Transformations in its subdisciplines and movements always implicate the basic research methods and methodolo-gies of scientific Psychology, indicating another dimension of challenge and opportunity. Questions of method in contemporary Psychology have been exponentiated by stunning advances in technology and technique. What are the implications of increasingly powerful measuring devices, their intricate observations, and the accompanying computational speed and capacity? Are there new methods that should be tested against the issues above? What is the appropriate relationship between hypothesis confirmation and data exploration in a data rich world? New methods in other disciplines will also affect Psychology. Most conspicuously, the genetic contribution to behavior promises to loom large in the years ahead. Will Psychology find a complete grounding in genomics? Is this a suitable goal for a scientific Psychology? As genetics progresses, how should classic debates on the innate and the learned be revised as the etiology from gene to brain to behavior ramifies? At a more general level, how will reductionism transform the concepts and explanatory strategies that might be deployed? Are reductionism and eliminativism necessary partners? Finally, just as neuroscience has begun a crossing from pure to applied science, with implications for ethics, all of the potential transformations questioned above can alter the place of Psychology in society. The emerging field of neuroeth-ics will have its psychological cognates. Put briefly, who owns the sciences of mind? Should research subjects, both patients and volunteers, become involved in research as more than just its object? In a world where policy is increas-ingly driven by science (or ought to be), what is the obligation of scientists to inform and educate general audiences? How should non-scientific constituencies shape the direction of research? One important dimension of this question involves the trend toward open source publication. This has been welcomed in every discipline. How can its benefits be extended, and its limitations superseded? Are there trade-offs among speed and rigor, exploration and confirmation, speculation and proof? How can the entire process of knowledge creation be made more transparent? There are journals already dedicated to each of the domains and issues above. The Frontiers journals operate at the frontiers of all of them, but, more important, a Frontier journal can cross frontiers. This is especially important in conceiving the challenges and opportunities at the frontiers of theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. In the decades ahead, the subdisciplines and theoretical outlooks in Psychology will beilluminated by creative borrowings of questions and methods across disciplinary lines. This network of influence implicates the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities in the future of Psychology. The grand challenge is to seize this grand opportunity.

Tony Cheng - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Book review: The first sense
    Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
    Co-Authors: Tony Cheng
    Abstract:

    The First Sense: A Philosophical Study of Human Touch is one of the rare contributions in theoretical and Philosophical Psychology exclusively on human's sense of touch in the past decades. Although the study is conducted from a Philosophical point of view, it is highly empirically informed. The author seeks to base his distinctions and arguments on empirical findings, but also offers his own original ideas and theses. In Section The Structure and Contents of the Book I discuss the structure and contents of the book with an emphasis on the central thesis “the unity of touch,” and in Section A Different Perspective I contrast that central thesis with a different perspective.

David A. Jopling - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Self-Knowledge and the Self
    2000
    Co-Authors: David A. Jopling
    Abstract:

    In this clear and reasoned discussion of self- knowledge and the self, the author asks whether it is really possible to know ourselves as we really are. He illuminates issues about the nature of self-identity which are of fundamental importance in moral Psychology, epistemology and literary criticism. Jopling focuses on the accounts of Stuart Hampshire, Jean-Paul Sartre and Richard Rorty, and dialogical Philosophical Psychology and illustrates his argument with examples from literature, drama and Psychology.

  • Sartre's moral Psychology
    The Cambridge Companion to Sartre, 1992
    Co-Authors: David A. Jopling
    Abstract:

    Across its long history moral philosophy has been as concerned with the cultivation of certain moral dispositions, or traits of character, or moral psychologies, as it has been with establishing the validity and universality of moral rules and principles. Moral Psychology begins with the inner person: not how we outwardly conform to external moral rules, but how we are in our hearts and souls and, particularly, how we are when we are truly flourishing as human beings. It is therefore concerned with the ethics of virtue, and a casual glance at the respective moral psychologies of Aristotle, Augustine, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, and the existentialists would reveal analyses of such virtues as integrity, justice, prudence, courage, magnanimity, sincerity, and authenticity. These are not innate dispositions, or inherited traits of personality like shyness or cheerfulness. They are acquired by teaching or practice or reflection, and to a certain extent reveal what we have made of ourselves; thus they express our moral way of being, and our fundamentl moral outlook, and not just something we happen to have. Sartre's concern with the ethics of character, the conditions of self-determination and human agency, and the phenomenology of moral life, places him within this tradition of moral and Philosophical Psychology. This essay is concerned with elaborating and clarifying a number of interrelated aspects of Sartre's moral and Philosophical Psychology, particularly as they are developed in Being and Nothingness : self-determination and agency, responsibility for self, the unity of a life, moral reasoning, and self-knowledge.