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Abstract
A radically critical view of the current dominant empiricist philosophy of psychology is offered. Boring's assertion that the history of psychology proves that the empirical basis of psychology is nonmetaphysical is challenged. An empirico-transcendental philosophy of psychology is elaborated as an alternative philosophy of science for clinical work.
The first section focuses on a sketch of the history of Western philosophy through the developing conceptions of metaphysics. That is, the core ideas of ontology (the study of the nature of human being) and of epistemology (the study of the nature of knowledge) are explored in the works of Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Russell, Carnap, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Husserl, Burtt, and Foucault. Four questions are used to evaluate each major position.
A number of fundamental inconsistencies in empiricistic philosophy are revealed. For example, the claim of the nonmetaphysical basis of empiricism is countered by the critiquing of the presuppositions underlying empiricism. The basic empiricist gambit of viewing all ongoing processes by retrospective-reflection-on-acts-after-completion is shown to yield logical inconsistencies.
The second section reviews in detail the critical empiricism of Turner. His tactic of biomechanical explanation, through the use of the theory of automata, is demonstrated to be logically indefensible by applying variants of the arguments developed in section one. Also, several examples of empiricio-transcendental philosophies of psychology are outlined: Bachelard, Bateson, Wilden, Polanyi, and Radnitzky.
The third section critiques Rychlak's hybrid philosophy of science for psychology and Giorgi's subjectivist position. Rychlak's views are critiqued through his theory-data distinction, his idealistic conception of the dialectic, and his conception of cause. Giorgi's position is critiqued as an intuitionist epistemology.
The fourth section outlines the basic precepts of the empirico-transcendental position. Next critical empiricism, idealist humanism, and empirico-transcendentalism are examined through their comparison on seven issues. Finally, three clinical examples are used to demonstrate the utility of my position.
