No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Intellectual history and modern brain science
Abstract
Extract
If there is one area of current intellectual life that feels without need of history, it is neuroscience and its allies in cognitive science and artificial intelligence (AI). Some scientists believe, even aggressively, that new research makes out of date any reference to mind, self, will, or consciousness as explanatory categories in their own right. The persistent use of these terms to describe states or realities, these scientists suggest, shows the regrettable power of habit and convention in everyday psychology. They would find strange or alien the idea that social science and history are essential sources of knowledge about ourselves, independent of the natural sciences. Perhaps I exaggerate. But many natural scientists would surely think that intellectual history, however interesting, is marginal to the project of understanding human nature.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Constructing the Subject traces the history of psychological research methodology from the nineteenth century to the emergence of currently favored styles of research in the second quarter of the twentieth century. Kurt Danziger considers methodology to be a kind of social practice rather than simply a matter of technique. Therefore his historical analysis is primarily concerned with such topics as the development of the social structure of the research relationship between experimenters and their subjects, as well as the role of the methodology in the relationship of investigators to each other in a wider social context. The book begins with a historical discussion of introspection as a research practice and proceeds to an analysis of diverging styles of psychological investigation. There is an extensive exploration of the role of quantification and statistics in the historical development of psychological research. The influence of the social context on research practice is illustrated by a comparison of American and German developments, especially in the field of personality research. In this analysis, psychology is treated less as a body of facts or theories than a particular set of social activities intended to produce something that counts as psychological knowledge under certain historical conditions. This perspective means that the historical analysis has important consequences for a critical understanding of psychological methodology in general.
Naming the mind: How psychology found its language, 1997. London: Sage. Summary Intelligence, motivation, personality, learning, stimulation, behaviour and attitude are just some of the categories that map the terrain of `psychological reality'. These are the concepts which, among others, underpin theoretical and empirical work in modern psychology - and yet these concepts have only recently taken on their contemporary meanings. In this fascinating work, Kurt Danziger goes beyond the taken-for-granted quality of psychological language to offer a profound and broad-ranging analysis of the recent evolution of the concepts and categories on which it depends. He explores this process and shows how its consequences depend on cultural contexts and the history of an emergent discipline. Danziger's internationally acclaimed Constructing the Subject examined the historical dependence of modern psychology on the social practices of psychological investigation. In Naming the Mind, he develops a complementary account that looks at the historically changing structure of psychological discourse. Naming the Mind is an elegant and persuasive explanation of how modern psychology found its language. It will be invaluable reading for students and academics throughout psychology, and for anyone with an interest in the history of the human sciences. Reviews “I wish I had it in my power to make this book by Kurt Danziger required reading for any psychologist who teaches or contemplates teaching a course in the history of the field. Why? Because it eloquently challenges the current view that the category language of the 20th-century American psychology reflects a natural and universal order of psychological phenomena. In Naming the Mind: How Psychology Found Its Language, Danziger shows very convincingly what is wrong with that picture” - Laurel Furumoto, Theory & Psychology “Naming the Mind consolidates a vast body of scholarship on psychological language and offers a persuasive model for appreciating the dynamic play and implications of this expert language....For those researchers concerned with psychology's language, Naming the Mind is a smart read" - Jill Morawski, Feminism & Psychology "Danziger is to be congratulated for his vision, his courage, and his articulate style in delivering his devastating message that today's psychology is not forever." - Michael Wertheimer, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences "...helps to reveal the socially constructive character of psychological categories that are often taken as 'natural' entities in a reality independent of sociocultural processes. His method for doing this, however, is not ethnographic, but historical, and his book demonstrates how historical analysis can make an important contribution to the ongoing development of psychology." Harry Heft, The Psychological Record "Kurt Danziger’s Naming the Mind: How Psychology Found Its Language, published in 1997, has already been highly valued as a must-read book in the domain of history of psychology, theoretical psychology, and critical psychology ... This review will evaluate the book from the viewpoint of the philosophy of mind and its relevant domains in philosophy. My conclusion is that this book is also a must-read for philosophers." - Tetsuya Kono, Philosophy of the Social Sciences Details • Publisher: Sage • Hardcover Edition: May 6, 1997 (ISBN-10: 080397762X; ISBN-13: 978-0803977624) • Paperback Edition: May 6, 1997 (ISBN-10: 0803977638; ISBN-13: 978-0803977631)
Preface 1. Brains in a vat 2. A problem about reference 3. Two philosophical perspectives 4. Mind and body 5. Two conceptions of rationality 6. Fact and value 7. Reason and history 8. The impact of science on modern conceptions of rationality 9. Values, facts and cognition Appendix Index.
Based on Michel Foucault's 1978 and 1979 lectures at the College de France on governmental rationalities and his 1977 interview regarding his work on imprisonment, this volume is the long-awaited sequel to Power/Knowledge. In these lectures, Foucault examines the art or activity of government both in its present form and within a historical perspective as well as the different ways governmentality has been made thinkable and practicable. Foucault's thoughts on political discourse and governmentality are supplemented by the essays of internationally renowned scholars. United by the common influence of Foucault's approach, they explore the many modern manifestations of government: the reason of state, police, liberalism, security, social economy, insurance, solidarity, welfare, risk management, and more. The central theme is that the object and the activity of government are not instinctive and natural things, but things that have been invented and learned. The Foucault Effect analyzes the thought behind practices of government and argues that criticism represents a true force for change in attitudes and actions, and that extending the limits of some practices allows the invention of others. This unique and extraordinarily useful collection of articles and primary materials will open the way for a whole new set of discussions of the work of Michel Foucault as well as the status of liberalism, social policy, and insurance.--Publisher description.
- Head