Clinical Psychology and the Philosophy of Science Clinical Psychology and the Philosophy of Science William O’Donohue
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William O’Donohue Clinical Psychology and the Philosophy of Science Clinical Psychology and the Philosophy of Science William O’Donohue Clinical Psychology and the Philosophy of Science 1 3 William O’Donohue Department of Psychology University of Nevada Reno, NV USA ISBN 978-3-319-00184-5 ISBN 978-3-319-00185-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-00185-2 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935254 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents 1 Introduction ................................................ 1 Special Topic: What are Philosophical Methods? .................... 3 Exegesis .................................................... 4 Logic and Arguments ......................................... 5 Summary ................................................... 7 Conceptual Analysis .......................................... 8 Summary ................................................... 10 References .................................................. 11 2 The Major Problems of the Philosophy of Science and Clinical Psychology ...................................... 13 Some Key Questions in Philosophy of Science ..................... 15 Major Questions ............................................. 15 Special Topic: The Relationship Between the History of Science and the Philosophy of Science. 18 References .................................................. 20 3 Epistemology and Logical Positivism ........................... 23 Epistemology ................................................ 23 Epistemology 101 ............................................ 24 Justification ............................................ 25 Truth .................................................. 25 Correspondence Theory of Truth ............................ 25 Coherence Theory of Truth ................................ 26 Problems with the Traditional Account of Knowledge ................ 26 Problems with Justification ................................ 26 Problems with Truth Criteria ............................... 27 Problems with Belief and Skepticism ........................ 28 Gettier Cases ................................................ 29 Logical Positivism ............................................ 30 Historical Sketch ........................................ 30 v vi Contents Philosophical Background ...................................... 30 Idealistic Metaphysics .................................... 30 The Verifiability Principle ................................. 31 Wittgenstein ............................................ 32 The Analytic/Synthetic Distinction .......................... 32 Problems with the Verifiability Criterion ...................... 34 Ethics and Moore’s Is/Ought Distinction ...................... 35 The Is/Ought Distinction .................................. 35 The Naturalistic Fallacy ................................... 36 Forms of Scientific Explanation: Hempel ..................... 36 Unity of Science ......................................... 37 The Demise of Logical Positivism ........................... 38 Special Topic I: Logical Positivism and Radical Behaviorism .......... 38 Special Topic II: Epistemic and Philosophical Problems of the APA’s Ethical Code ...................................... 39 References .................................................. 42 4 Popper: Conjectures and Refutations ........................... 43 Popper’s Falsificationism ...................................... 43 Knowledge is Not Justified ................................ 44 Knowledge is Not True ................................... 44 Knowledge is Not Belief .................................. 44 How Did Popper Arrive at These Conclusions? ................. 45 Science as Problem Solving ................................ 48 The Problems of Induction ................................. 50 Three Key Paradoxes of Induction ............................... 53 Modus Tollens and the Duhem-Quine Thesis .................. 54 Modus Tollens ............................................... 54 The Duhem-Quine Thesis ...................................... 55 Popper’s Three-World Metaphysics .............................. 56 The Rationality Principle and Objective Knowledge ............. 57 Criticisms of Popper’s Views ............................... 58 Popper’s Evolutionary Epistemology ......................... 59 Naturalizing Epistemology ..................................... 59 Naturalistic Epistemology ................................. 59 Evolutionary Theory ..................................... 60 Existence is Problem Solving. 61 Error Elimination ........................................ 61 Problem-Solving Schema .................................. 62 Special Topic I: Three Other Key Evolutionary Epistemologists: Donald Campbell, W. V. O. Quine, and B. F. Skinner ................. 64 Donald Campbell ........................................ 64 BV SR Model ........................................ 65 Vicarious+ Selection ....................................... 65 Epistemic “fit” .......................................... 65 Contents vii W. V. O. Quine .......................................... 66 Quine’s Evolutionary Epistemology ......................... 66 B. F. Skinner ............................................ 67 Natural Selection ........................................ 68 Selection by Consequences (Operant Conditioning) ............. 69 Comparison of the Four Thinkers ................................ 70 Conclusions Regarding Evolutionary Epistemology ............. 71 Special Topic II: Popper’s Political Philosophy ..................... 72 References .................................................. 74 5 The Spell of Kuhn on Psychology .............................. 77 Introduction ................................................. 77 Kuhn’s Normal and Revolutionary Science ........................ 77 What were Kuhn’s Methods? ................................... 78 What are Kuhn’s Views of Science? .............................. 80 Pre-Paradigm or Immature Period ........................... 80 Paradigmatic or Mature Science ............................ 81 Revolutionary or Extraordinary Science ...................... 81 What Exactly Do These Conclusions Mean? ....................... 82 What is a Paradigm? ...................................... 82 How Do Scientific Revolutions Take Place? ................... 83 Are Paradigms Incommensurable? .......................... 84 What is Special About Science? ............................. 86 Are Kuhn’s Views Descriptive or Normative? .................. 87 The Special Status of Psychology ................................ 88 How Does Kuhn Use Psychology? ............................... 88 What does Kuhn Say About Psychology? .......................... 92 Conclusions ................................................. 94 References .................................................. 96 6 Four Other Major Philosophers of Science ...................... 99 Early Feyerabend: Methodological and Theoretical Pluralism ................................................... 100 The Democratization of Science ................................. 102 Lakatos Research Programs and “Sophisticated Methodological Falsification” ................................................ 103 Criticisms of Lakatos ......................................... 107 Laudan ..................................................... 107 Gross: The Rhetoric of Science .................................. 109 A Brief Introduction to Rhetoric ................................. 112 Conclusions: Regarding Rhetoric and Science ...................... 114 Special Topic: A Fifth Account of Science: B. 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