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Where is psychology going? Structural fault lines revealed by psychologists' use of Kuhn
1Department of Psychology, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. edl@wjh.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Psychologists' appropriation of language and ideas from Thomas Kuhn's (1962, 1970b) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions reveals deep and contradictory concerns about truth, science, and the progress of the field. The author argues that psychologists, uncomfortably straddling natural and social science traditions, reference Structure for 2 reasons largely overlooked: first, because it presents an intermediate, naturalistic position in the war between relativist and rationalist views of scientific truth, and second, because it presents a psychologized model of scientific change. The author suggests that the history of this mutual influence--psychologists being influenced by Kuhn and vice versa--may usefully inform current practices of psychological science.
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