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> But it's undeniable that the discursive roots of modern psychology come from Freud in particular, and that when we analyze a phenomenon ("treatment" notwithst
by consilient 3y ago
> But it's undeniable that the discursive roots of modern psychology come from Freud in particular, and that when we analyze a phenomenon ("treatment" notwithstanding) we owe ourselves due diligence to understand it properly.
Sure, and people analyzing the "discursive roots of modern psychology" - historians of science - do talk about Freud. And Wundt, and James, and Watson, all of whom are of comparable significance in the history of the field. But scientists are not historians; they're interested in analyzing the actual thing out there in the world, not the way we talk about it.
- Nav_Panel 3y agoThe "actual thing out there in the world", at least for the case of psychology, is discursively ("socially") constructed. This fact is the precise problem with the original essay, and with empirical psychology as a field -- it has no understanding of the actual thing it's studying. Dealing with narcissism through statistical surveys is like the blind men and the elephant.