Psychology's Interpretive Turn: The Search for Truth and Agency in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

413 Pages·2007·25.04 MB·English

by  Barbara S. Held

Psychology's
Interpretive
The Search for Truth and Agency in
Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
Barbara S. Held
American Psychological Association
Washington, DC
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Held, Barbara S.
Psychology's interpretive turn : the search for truth and agency in theoretical and
philosophical psychology / Barbara S. Held. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59147-925-3
ISBN-10: 1-59147-925-8
1. Psychology—Philosophy. I. Title.
BF38.H448 2007
150.1—dc22 2006102168
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record is available from the British Library.
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
To the memory of Edward Pols, philosopher and poet
CONTENTS
Preface ix
I. Introduction and Origins 1
Chapter 1. Introduction 3
Chapter 2. The Postmodernist Roots of the Middle-
Ground Theorists 27
II. The Interpretive Turn in Moderation: Ontology 49
Chapter 3. An Introduction to the Middle-Ground
Theorists 51
Chapter 4. Ontological Point 1: An Ontology of "Being
in the World," or, a Situated Psychological
Existence 77
Chapter 5. Ontological Point 2: A Middle-Ground
Realist Ontology? 99
Chapter 6. Ontological Point 3: An Ontology of
Situated Agency and Transcendence 157
Chapter 7. Ontological Point 4: An Ontology of Flux
and Flow 191
III. The Interpretive Turn in Moderation: Epistemology 205
Chapter 8. Situated Knowing: A Middle-Ground
Antiobjectivist Epistemology? 207
Chapter 9. Situated Warrant: A Middle-Ground Realist
Epistemology? 265
IV. Truth and Agency 321
Chapter 10. Rational Agency 323
References 365
Author Index 379
Subject Index 383
About the Author 415
viii CONTENTS
PREFACE
With the publication of Bock to Reality in 1995,1 thought I had said all
that I had to say about the antirealist epistemology, or the postmodern "lin-
guistic turn," that had impacted psychotherapy theory and practice by the
late 1980s. As it turns out, I was wrong.
At the 1997 annual convention of the American Psychological Asso-
ciation (APA) in Chicago, I was encouraged to join APA's Division 24 (So-
ciety for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology) by its soon-to-be presi-
dent Brent Slife. He had read Bock to Reality appreciatively and thought I
might overcome the isolation of teaching at a small college in Maine by
joining a group of scholars with similar interests. He was right, although at
the time I could not foresee the implications of his thoughtful invitation.
Brent was the first of several scholars in the Society to suggest that
although Bock to Reality made a good case against the excesses of postmodern
antirealism, there were important matters that had been overlooked. In par-
ticular, these scholars said that whereas postmodernism had indeed short-
changed psychological inquiry by depriving it of a realist epistemology, mod-
ern objectivism had also shortchanged psychological inquiry by depriving it
of an agentic ontology. Interpretation, or the "interpretive turn," is the an-
swer to the shortcomings—or excesses, depending on how you interpret
them—of both postmodern and modern approaches to psychology, these
scholars maintained, and they themselves had written much about just that
issue. Those individuals most keen to help me expand my horizons of under-
standing were—in addition to Brent Slife—Elaine Powers and Frank
Richardson, and I am grateful to all three of them for sending me their pa-
pers, encouraging me to read their books, and welcoming me into their inter-
pretive fold. That was in 1998, the year I started to read what had been
recommended by them.
IX
By 1999 I realized that there were common themes among these and
other scholars, themes that I found intriguing yet not quite satisfying. What
impressed me most was their attempt to moderate or avoid the perceived
extremes of both postmodern and modern approaches to psychology—and
by 2000 I realized that I had conceived another book, owing to the sophisti-
cated, nuanced, and provocative arguments of these important scholars. This
time, however, I would not limit myself to psychotherapy but would consider
questions that pertained to the philosophy of psychology as a whole. More-
over, I would expand my analysis to include ontological as well as epistemo-
logical matters. And so Psychology's Interpretive Turn was born.
Other scholars in the Society, and some who are not, deserve credit for
helping me to think with greater breadth and depth. Ronald Miller and Daniel
Fishman, for inviting me to comment critically on their own philosophies of
psychology, both on their panels and in their journal. M. Brewster Smith,
Alan Tjeltveit, Hank Stam, James Coyne, David Livingstone Smith, David
Jopling, Benjamin Folkman, and Daniel Robinson, for encouraging me to
swim upstream against the tide of antiobjectivism that has come to dominate
the philosophy of those who seek an agentic psychology. Last, but certainly
not least, Joseph Rychlak and Stan Messer, for their efforts in bringing Back
to Reality to the broadest possible readership, which will no doubt have con-
sequence for this new volume. My heartfelt thanks to them all.
Of no lesser importance are the several scholars in the Philosophy De-
partment at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, who, in giving
me a visiting scholar position in the Spring 2001 term, also gave me the
knowledge I would need to strengthen my analysis. Conversations and courses
with Edward Erwin, Harvey Siegel (department chair), Susan Haack, and
Charles Siewert were invaluable. I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to Amie
Thomasson, whose own philosophy turned out to be the most important gift
of all. Without her seminal "upstream" work in the ontology of human and
other kinds, my book's core would have been considerably less substantial.
That she later read and commented critically on the entire book manuscript,
and gave me countless hours of clarifying discussion, made her my most cru-
cial resource.
My thanks also to my colleagues in the Psychology Department at
Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, for putting up with my leaves while I
wrote; to my husband, David Bellows, and my friends and colleagues David
Page, Jeff Nagle, Peter Doan, and the late Peter Trumper, all from Bowdoin's
Chemistry Department, for their unfailing support; to the students in my
advanced seminar, who asked all the right, hard questions; and to Bowdoin
College for the funding that made my time at the University of Miami pos-
sible. I am especially grateful to my former student Timothy Mclntyre and to
my colleague Richmond Thompson, of Bowdoin's Psychology Department,
for their helpful comments on the manuscript. Thanks also to psychology
majors Luke ("Luciano") Monahan, Alexa Ogata, Sarah Clark, Sara Afienko,
X PREFACE
and Hande Ozergin for their help in preparing the manuscript for publica-
tion; to Eliot Werner of Eliot Werner Publications for his keen editorial eye;
and to Susan Reynolds of APA Books for swimming upstream with this
"salmon" author by taking a chance on an unusual book and Emily Leonard
and Tiffany Klaff of APA Books for turning my manuscript into a book.
Though he is now gone, I again owe everything to my dear friend, col-
league, and mentor Edward Pols, who taught me how to think philosophi-
cally, both in individual tutorial and by personal example. It is to him that
this volume is dedicated.
PREFACE id
I
INTRODUCTION
AND ORIGINS