Summary
Contents
Subject index
This essential book provides a comprehensive explanation of the key topics and debates arising in the philosophy of psychology. In editors William O'Donohue and Richard Kitchener's thoughtful examination, philosophy and psychology converge on several themes of great importance such as the foundations of knowledge, the nature of science, rationality, behaviorism, cognitive science, folk psychology, neuropsychology, psychoanalysis, professionalism, and research ethics. The Philosophy of Psychology also provides an in-depth discussion of ethics in counseling and psychiatry while exploring the diverse topics listed above. The internationally renowned group of contributors to this volume both stimulating and informative. The Philosophy of Psychology will be invaluable for students and academics in theories and systems in psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive science, philosophy of the social sciences, philosophy of the mind, and related courses.
Behaviorism as Opposition to Cartesianism
Behaviorism as Opposition to Cartesianism
Introduction
Behaviorism is best regarded not as a positive doctrine but as a form of opposition to Cartesianism (Hineline, 1992, p. 1274).1 That is what it was in the beginning; that is what it is now.
Cartesianism is the paradigm of what Wallace Matson calls an inside-out philosophy (Matson, 1987, p. 275). Its central thesis is that we perceive not things and events in the world outside us but ideas, signs, or other representations of these things inside us. Then we infer the existence of things outside us as causes of the ideas inside us. Thus, according to the Cartesian, I learn by introspection, reflection on my own ideas, that my idea of grass is green; then I ...
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