Psychology’s Philosophical Foundations: In Search of a Unifying Theory

I am concerned with fragmentation in psychology among its theories and research projects. There is in particular a clear debate between those who propose a scientific conception of psychology versus those who propose a broader, more expansive conception of its subject matter and method. The proponents of these two opposed conceptions of psychology agree that psychology is in need of an epistemology. I argue, instead, that psychology first needs to identify its metaphysics. That metaphysics will be its subject matter, as well as what is required for the study of any subject. I propose that Psychology’s metaphysics is the person, a rational, self-conscious, intention-forming agent, fully interactive with the objective world it inhabits. The person, so conceived, will be the common ground of all the many disparate schools of psychological thought.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Grantor dc:publisher

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Bedogni Drago, Romina

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Campbell, Peter

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Soifer, Eldon
• Szabados, Bela

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.82465/4784

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/5754