Centrality of history for theory construction in psychology

Repository | Book

Springer, Dordrecht

2016

248 Pages

ISBN 978-3-319-42759-1

Centrality of history for theory construction in psychology

Edited by

Sven Hroar Klempe , Roger Smith

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the purpose of history for psychology. Its purpose is to ask why history should be of concern to psychologists in teaching and research, and in theory and in practice. The future position of humanities subjects is currently highly debated on all fronts. Chapters focus on the arguments from psychologists, upgrade the precision and quality of discussion, and thus, provide a base for affirming the place of history of psychology in the broad fieldof psychological activity.

A fundamental question dominates the discussion. Is the purpose of the history of psychology to serve current psychology, rather than to contribute to historical knowledge – and to enter large debates about what historical knowledge means for being human? If the answer is yes, as most psychologists who come to the issues will presume, in what ways? Are these ways philosophically grounded, or do the social and political conditions of power and funding in universities dominate the arguments? In this volume, the contributors demonstrate the relation between historical investigations and current practice.

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Centrality of History for Theory Construction in Psychology will be of interest to psychologists, professors, graduate psychology students, and scholars in the human sciences.

Publication details

Full citation:

Hroar Klempe, S. , Smith, R. (eds) (2016). Centrality of history for theory construction in psychology, Springer, Dordrecht.

Table of Contents

History of psychology

Smith Roger

3-28