The Immeasurable Mind: The Real Science of PsychologyIs psychology a science? Unlike Darwinian theory in biology or relativity and quantum theory in physics, psychology lacks the basic quantitative or conceptual foundation for a consensus view about how the mind works. Is psychology on the verge of developing such a foundation? "Probably not," answers psychologist William R. Uttal in this iconoclastic and critical examination of psychology's underlying principles, assumptions, and concepts. In five in-depth chapters and one appendix, he explores the following key issues: *What do we mean by "science" and can psychology be legitimately described as a science? *What are the general principles that should be applied to any science? *What is the role of mathematics in psychology? *Given the current fragmented state of the discipline, is it possible to identify the general principles of a scientific psychology? *Is experimental psychology just applied epistemology and not really scientific? Uttal comes to the conclusion that psychology is a science only to the extent that it is behaviorist in orientation. By comparing his discipline to other sciences, he identifies its limits, establishes a set of principles that help to define psychology as a science, and suggests plausible future developments. |
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accepted analysis applied approach argued argument asserted assumptions axiomatic axiomatic-deductive axioms basic behavior behaviorist beliefs brain chapter chology classic cognitive processes cognitive psychology complexity concepts considered convergence defined definition derived Descartes develop dimensions discussion empirical laws ence epistemology ethics Euclid example experiment experimental psychology formal foundation function fundamental Hull Hull's human hypothetical ical ideas inductive infer intractable issues kind knowledge learning logical mathematics means measure mental processes mentalist metaphors method methodology mind modern monism nature neural net neural network neurons Newton NP-complete null hypothesis observations one-to-many ontological phenomena philosophers Phrenology physical possible postulates Principia principles Principles of Psychology problem propositions psychotherapy question reductive rules scientific method scientific psychology sense sensory simple specific speculation statistical stimuli stochastic strategy structure subject matter suggested theorems theory tion underlying Uttal valid variable verify Whitehead and Russell words Wundt