In a recent article, Paley criticized nursing research that claimed to be phenomenological and re... more In a recent article, Paley criticized nursing research that claimed to be phenomenological and recommended that all reference to Husserl be dropped by nurses following certain qualitative procedures. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that Paley is wrong in his recommendation by showing that Paley (i) does not distinguish scientific phenomenology from philosophical phenomenology; (ii) is severely limited with respect to scholarly references that legitimate and articulate the scientific phenomenological method; (iii) seems to be unaware of the precedents for attempting scholarly analyses of the experiences and behaviors of others; and (iv) seems to be unaware of the internal history of the development of the scientific phenomenological method, which would show its close relationship to Husserl. Although deficiencies in nursing phenomenological research can be found, the solution is not to drive the researchers away from phenomenology, but to encourage them to apply the scientific phenomenological method in a better way.
First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Leswin Laubscher, the current Chair of the Psychology Dep... more First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Leswin Laubscher, the current Chair of the Psychology Department at Duquesne University, for inviting me to speak to the department more than half a century after I started my career here as a phenomenological psychologist. It is also my first visit to the department in more than a quarter of a century, so you must forgive me if certain nostalgic feelings come through. However, it is good to see that there is still a phenomenological presence in the department because the development of a phenomenological psychology was the very raison d'être of the department. In my talk today, I shall try to indicate how we believed that the application of phenomenological philosophical thought to psychology would be helpful to a psychology that wanted to understand human persons in an adequate way. If in the 1950s some of us found psychology to be lacking, what was wrong with it and how would one go about correcting it? What was holding back its vigorous development? Why was our understanding of the human person not advancing the way that our knowledge of nature was progressing? Well, for one thing, the human person was not so much the theme of the research psychologists of that era as an animal was, and if a human was thematized, it was not the essential human that was studied so much as human phenomena with primarily sensorial and physiological manifestations. Why did this state of affairs exist? Because psychology strove to become a natural science and the phenomena that were studied had to show characteristics that were similar to nature and they had to have an empirical basis. In that era, whether or not such an approach clarified human phenomena was not as important as psychology's scientific status. More important than the clarification of human phenomena was psychology's determination to be a natural science, although mainstream psychologists honestly believed they were doing both.
The notion of value neutrality has been a contentious issue within the human and social sciences ... more The notion of value neutrality has been a contentious issue within the human and social sciences for some time. In this paper, some of the philosophical and scientific bases for the confusion surrounding the fact-value dichotomy are covered and the discrepancy between how psychology studies values and expresses them is noted. The sense of value neutrality is clarified historically and the clarified meaning of the term applied to some qualitative data demonstrating in what sense values may be expressed in psychology. The position is upheld that psychology as a human science intentionally should not be absolutely value free in the sense that human reality has to be studied in a non-reductionistic manner and thus methods of study must be respectful of the full ethical sense of humanness. This is simply meeting the phenomenological requirement of "fidelity to the phenomenon". However, psychology can be value free in the historical sense of the term properly understood because it refers to the fact that the personal values of the scientists ought not to be conflated with scientific findings. The discussion of values takes place primarily within the context of science, where the problem of value neutrality emerged, but it is acknowledged that non-scientific approaches to value have merit and can also be compelling. In the English language the word (value) is used in a somewhat loose and fluctuating way. Philosophers and social scientists concerned with value questions have long recognized the need for a more precise terminology to facilitate the exact formulations needed in scholarly and scientific contexts. But this desideratum seems to be the only point of agreement .... [A]ll their positive efforts have failed. (p. 1) The IPJP is a joint project of Rhodes University in South Africa and Edith Cowan University in Australia. This document is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part via any medium (print, electronic or otherwise) without the express permission of the publishers.
The author explains that his background was in experimental psychology but that he wanted to stud... more The author explains that his background was in experimental psychology but that he wanted to study the whole person and not fragmented psychological processes. He also desired a non-reductionistic method for studying humans. Fortunately he came across the work of Edmund Husserl and discovered in the latter’s thought a way of researching humans that met the criteria he was seeking. Eventually he developed a phenomenological method for researching humans in a psychological way based upon the work of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. This article briefly describes the method.
Phenomenology, as a modern movement in philosophy, has focused discussion upon human subjectivity... more Phenomenology, as a modern movement in philosophy, has focused discussion upon human subjectivity in new and critically important ways. Because human participants can relate intentionally to objects of the world consciousness manifests relationships to things and others that are other than cause-effect relationships. Consequently, the concepts and practices of the natural sciences are not the best model for the human sciences to follow. Husserl in his philosophy introduced a method for a more adequate approach to the achievements of consciousness and when properly modified the phenomenological method can serve as the basis for the human sciences, including nursing. The use of such a method can make the qualitative analysis of phenomena rigorous and scientific.
This article points out the criteria necessary in order for a qualitative scientific method to qu... more This article points out the criteria necessary in order for a qualitative scientific method to qualify itself as phenomenological in a descriptive Husserlian sense. One would have to employ (1) description (2) within the attitude of the phenomenological reduction, and (3) seek the most invariant meanings for a context. The results of this analysis are used to critique an article by Klein and Westcott (1994), that presents a typology of the development of the phenomenological psychological method.
We are living in an era when many qualitative research methods are being introduced into psycholo... more We are living in an era when many qualitative research methods are being introduced into psychology. Among the qualitative methods being introduced are pheno-menological methods based on different phenomenological philosophers. Not unex-pectedly, different ...
Reports the results of a survey on graduate training in philosophical psychology sponsored by Ame... more Reports the results of a survey on graduate training in philosophical psychology sponsored by American Psychological Association Division 24. 305 schools were contacted, with 160 schools responding. Only 5 of the 160 schools offered a specialty in philosophical psychology. 63 schools reported that there was no emphasis on theoretical psychology, and 48 gave no information.
What is the role of humanistic psychology for contemporary psychology and for the psychology of t... more What is the role of humanistic psychology for contemporary psychology and for the psychology of the future? To clarify its future role, it is critical to know whether or not the unique contribution that humanistic psychology can make, has already been made. In other words, are our ...
In a recent article, Paley criticized nursing research that claimed to be phenomenological and re... more In a recent article, Paley criticized nursing research that claimed to be phenomenological and recommended that all reference to Husserl be dropped by nurses following certain qualitative procedures. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that Paley is wrong in his recommendation by showing that Paley (i) does not distinguish scientific phenomenology from philosophical phenomenology; (ii) is severely limited with respect to scholarly references that legitimate and articulate the scientific phenomenological method; (iii) seems to be unaware of the precedents for attempting scholarly analyses of the experiences and behaviors of others; and (iv) seems to be unaware of the internal history of the development of the scientific phenomenological method, which would show its close relationship to Husserl. Although deficiencies in nursing phenomenological research can be found, the solution is not to drive the researchers away from phenomenology, but to encourage them to apply the scientific phenomenological method in a better way.
First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Leswin Laubscher, the current Chair of the Psychology Dep... more First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Leswin Laubscher, the current Chair of the Psychology Department at Duquesne University, for inviting me to speak to the department more than half a century after I started my career here as a phenomenological psychologist. It is also my first visit to the department in more than a quarter of a century, so you must forgive me if certain nostalgic feelings come through. However, it is good to see that there is still a phenomenological presence in the department because the development of a phenomenological psychology was the very raison d'être of the department. In my talk today, I shall try to indicate how we believed that the application of phenomenological philosophical thought to psychology would be helpful to a psychology that wanted to understand human persons in an adequate way. If in the 1950s some of us found psychology to be lacking, what was wrong with it and how would one go about correcting it? What was holding back its vigorous development? Why was our understanding of the human person not advancing the way that our knowledge of nature was progressing? Well, for one thing, the human person was not so much the theme of the research psychologists of that era as an animal was, and if a human was thematized, it was not the essential human that was studied so much as human phenomena with primarily sensorial and physiological manifestations. Why did this state of affairs exist? Because psychology strove to become a natural science and the phenomena that were studied had to show characteristics that were similar to nature and they had to have an empirical basis. In that era, whether or not such an approach clarified human phenomena was not as important as psychology's scientific status. More important than the clarification of human phenomena was psychology's determination to be a natural science, although mainstream psychologists honestly believed they were doing both.
The notion of value neutrality has been a contentious issue within the human and social sciences ... more The notion of value neutrality has been a contentious issue within the human and social sciences for some time. In this paper, some of the philosophical and scientific bases for the confusion surrounding the fact-value dichotomy are covered and the discrepancy between how psychology studies values and expresses them is noted. The sense of value neutrality is clarified historically and the clarified meaning of the term applied to some qualitative data demonstrating in what sense values may be expressed in psychology. The position is upheld that psychology as a human science intentionally should not be absolutely value free in the sense that human reality has to be studied in a non-reductionistic manner and thus methods of study must be respectful of the full ethical sense of humanness. This is simply meeting the phenomenological requirement of "fidelity to the phenomenon". However, psychology can be value free in the historical sense of the term properly understood because it refers to the fact that the personal values of the scientists ought not to be conflated with scientific findings. The discussion of values takes place primarily within the context of science, where the problem of value neutrality emerged, but it is acknowledged that non-scientific approaches to value have merit and can also be compelling. In the English language the word (value) is used in a somewhat loose and fluctuating way. Philosophers and social scientists concerned with value questions have long recognized the need for a more precise terminology to facilitate the exact formulations needed in scholarly and scientific contexts. But this desideratum seems to be the only point of agreement .... [A]ll their positive efforts have failed. (p. 1) The IPJP is a joint project of Rhodes University in South Africa and Edith Cowan University in Australia. This document is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part via any medium (print, electronic or otherwise) without the express permission of the publishers.
The author explains that his background was in experimental psychology but that he wanted to stud... more The author explains that his background was in experimental psychology but that he wanted to study the whole person and not fragmented psychological processes. He also desired a non-reductionistic method for studying humans. Fortunately he came across the work of Edmund Husserl and discovered in the latter’s thought a way of researching humans that met the criteria he was seeking. Eventually he developed a phenomenological method for researching humans in a psychological way based upon the work of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. This article briefly describes the method.
Phenomenology, as a modern movement in philosophy, has focused discussion upon human subjectivity... more Phenomenology, as a modern movement in philosophy, has focused discussion upon human subjectivity in new and critically important ways. Because human participants can relate intentionally to objects of the world consciousness manifests relationships to things and others that are other than cause-effect relationships. Consequently, the concepts and practices of the natural sciences are not the best model for the human sciences to follow. Husserl in his philosophy introduced a method for a more adequate approach to the achievements of consciousness and when properly modified the phenomenological method can serve as the basis for the human sciences, including nursing. The use of such a method can make the qualitative analysis of phenomena rigorous and scientific.
This article points out the criteria necessary in order for a qualitative scientific method to qu... more This article points out the criteria necessary in order for a qualitative scientific method to qualify itself as phenomenological in a descriptive Husserlian sense. One would have to employ (1) description (2) within the attitude of the phenomenological reduction, and (3) seek the most invariant meanings for a context. The results of this analysis are used to critique an article by Klein and Westcott (1994), that presents a typology of the development of the phenomenological psychological method.
We are living in an era when many qualitative research methods are being introduced into psycholo... more We are living in an era when many qualitative research methods are being introduced into psychology. Among the qualitative methods being introduced are pheno-menological methods based on different phenomenological philosophers. Not unex-pectedly, different ...
Reports the results of a survey on graduate training in philosophical psychology sponsored by Ame... more Reports the results of a survey on graduate training in philosophical psychology sponsored by American Psychological Association Division 24. 305 schools were contacted, with 160 schools responding. Only 5 of the 160 schools offered a specialty in philosophical psychology. 63 schools reported that there was no emphasis on theoretical psychology, and 48 gave no information.
What is the role of humanistic psychology for contemporary psychology and for the psychology of t... more What is the role of humanistic psychology for contemporary psychology and for the psychology of the future? To clarify its future role, it is critical to know whether or not the unique contribution that humanistic psychology can make, has already been made. In other words, are our ...
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