Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Psychology

This textbook connects the big ideas and key thinkers of psychology and philosophy in a clear and cohesive theoretical narrative.

Martin Farrell (Author)

9781107005990, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 June 2014

466 pages, 46 b/w illus.
25.2 x 17.8 x 2.5 cm, 1.05 kg

'This text provides a deep insight into the history of psychology and, in particular, many of the theoretical and empirical relationships between theorists.' Dannette Marie, University of Aberdeen

This textbook connects the big ideas and key thinkers of psychology and philosophy in a clear and cohesive theoretical narrative. Students are led to understand the relations between different schools of thought, and to connect the various thinkers, theories and facts in psychology's history. Focusing on the major ideas that have reoccurred throughout history, such as the mind-body problem and the role of the mind in our experience, Martin Farrell shows how specific thinkers have explored the same ideas, but in different ways, leading to distinct schools of thought. The coherent narrative enables students to see the bigger picture, through which the historical and conceptual roots of psychology can be easily understood.

Part I. Philosophy of Science: 1. Logical positivism and Popper's falsificationism
2. Kuhn and scientific revolutions
3. Lakatos and Feyerabend: research programmes and anarchism
Part II. Historical Development of the Philosophy of Mind: 4. Descartes and the mind-body problem
5. Locke, Berkeley, and empiricism
6. Hume, Kant, and Enlightenment
7. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche
Part III. Psychology: 8. Psychophysics and physiological psychology
9. Evolution and psychology
10. Freud and psychoanalysis
11. Wundt and the birth of experimental psychology
12. Titchener, introspection, and positivism
13. Gestalt psychology
14. William James and the stream of consciousness
15. Dewey and functionalism
16. Behaviourism
17. Cognitive psychology
18. Modularity, neuroscience, and embodied cognition.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Psychology [JM], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Philosophy [HP]