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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Symbolic Action Theory and Cultural Psychology

Symbolic Action Theory and Cultural Psychology

Boesch, Ernest E.

Paperback

Series: Recent Research in Psychology

Medical ReferenceEnvironmental StudiesGeneral Psychology

ISBN10: 3540539921
ISBN13: 9783540539926
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: Jun 26 1991
Pages: 387
Weight: 1.23
Height: 0.82 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Gustav Jahoda University of Strathclyde Ever since psychology emerged as a separate discipline about a century ago, there have been differing views as to what it is or ought to be. Some, like Ebbinghaus, saw it as a budding natural science, experimental and quantitative. Others, like Dilthey, regarded psychology in the main as a humane field of study, historical and interpretative in character. The dichotomy of explaining versus understanding has been a subject of debate ever since. Regrettably, most of the protagonists of these respec- tive positions tend to view them as mutually exclusive, in spite of the fact that already Wundt had stressed that hard experimental and soft VOlkerpsychologie are both equally important. For the major part of the present century the field has been largely dominated by advocates of hard-nosed scientific approaches, typified first by Behaviorism and, latterly, cognitive psychology which concen- trates on central processes involved in cognition. Without in any way wishing to denigrate the undoubted achievements of cognitive psycholo- gy, it has its limitations that are epitomized by T. H. Huxley's dictum The great end of life is not knowledge but action. This might well serve as the motto for the action theory of Ernest Boesch, who is one of several prominent psychologists out of harmony with the prevailing ethos. They travel under different banners such as social constructivism, ethogen- ics or hermeneutics, but all share reservations about what many feel is the arid scientism of the mainstream.

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