Ebook: The Scientific Evolution of Psychology

The goal the author sets for himself in this book is to trace the evolution of psychology as a science. He undertakes a critical examination of the way scholars in the psychological tradition described and interpreted the interbehavior of organisms with stimulus objects. When he speaks of the psychological tradition, the author strongly emphasizes the fact that the science of psychology has not enjoyed a continuous naturalistic development. As is well known, the evolution of psychology includes periods in which scholars not only limited their studies to human interbehavior and neglected the behavior of other organisms, but, in addition, failed to describe and interpret that interbehavior as natural events. Instead, they thought of it as at least partially extranatural. Such theological and metaphysical periods must, however, be taken strictly into account because they articulate with and influence the naturalistic stages of psychological tradition. In fact, these scientific dark spots continue to influence the current course of psychological history.

The author adds that , although his primary interest is in the development of psychology, he cannot overlook the fact that this science has originated and evolved as a component star of a scientific constellation. Accordingly, he treats psychology as it grew and changed with the varying circumstances of the scientific culture of Western Europe. Furthermore, since obviously scientific culture itself exists only as a part of general culture or civilization, he also takes account of this cultural matrix, which shapes all the sciences and in turn is shaped by them.