Philosophy of science and the foundations of psychotherapy

The field of psychotherapy rests on a foundation of basic propositions, fundamental starting points or cornerstones, and ideas that are generally taken for granted as fundamental givens or truths. A case is presented that there are ways in which foundational beliefs may be kept essentially immune from careful explication, study, examination, analysis, and challenge, and therefore from constructive improvement and change. Borrowed largely from the neighboring field of philosophy of science, 5 solutions are presented to assist in explicating, challenging, improving, and changing foundational beliefs. The subsequent 2 articles (E. Erwin, 2000; J. F. Rychlak, 2000) illustrate how these philosophy of science methods may be applied to 2 foundational beliefs in the field of psychotherapy.