Summary
John Shotter: Representations of Man in Psychological Research
This book is therefore about representations of man in psychological research, and I want to achieve two things. First, in a rather discursive presentation of what I consider to be the standard, classical approach to psychology in this class (the study of man as a mechanism from the point of view of an outside observer), I will try to distinguish three forms of order, each of which consists of a system of interrelated, descriptive categories: mechanical, organismic, and personal. Second, in this presentation I will also discuss the different points of view we can adopt when studying man depending on these three forms of order. The discussion of the different points of view is perhaps even more important than the discussion of the forms of order, because it is related to the criteria we use when evaluating the accuracy of our theoretical discussions. As I have already pointed out, when testing our theories, we can take the point of view of an individual, an external observer, and use only the criteria of observation and formal criteria (see the discussion of Galileo in the third chapter). Instead of taking the position of an external observer, we could, although science does not yet do so, take the position of employees involved in the action and that when testing our theories, we refer to the criteria of experience, and not to the criteria of observation. We could go further and not only take the point of view of individual employees, but the point of view of socially responsible employees and judge based on criteria common to everyone in our society. This would shift the starting point of all theoretical discussions, first from thinking to action, and then from an egocentric to a social standpoint - from the standpoint of intellectual thinking to that of everyday social practice. I will argue for that point of view in this book (Macmurray, 1957, 1961). Accordingly, an essay on theoretical psychology follows, in which the need for a new approach (a new form of order plus a new point of view) is first justified, and then an effort is made to secure it.
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