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Citation: Davis, K.E., & Bergner, R.M. (Eds.). (2006). Advances in Descriptive Psychology: (Vol. 8). Ann Arbor, MI: Descriptive Psychology Press.
Advances in Descriptive Psychology, Vol. 8 takes on truly challenging intellectual issues, ones that are often treated as intractable or unspeakable within academic discourse.
The first section is devoted to addressing four fundamental questions:
- Just what is this strange, unique, and difficult to grasp entity that is âDescriptive Psychology?
- Why, unlike many other sciences, has the science of psychology thus far been unable to arrive at a single, widely accepted, unifying framework, and thus remained in a highly fragmented state?
- Is it possible that one day the science of psychology will be replaced entirely by that of biology? Is it possible, in other words, that all of the phenomena that we currently explain by recourse to notions like ‘reason’, ‘belief’, and ‘emotion’ will be better explained by ones like ‘synaptic event’, ‘action potential’, or whatever the then current biological construct system proffers?
- Where does our freedom lie? In what respects do we enjoy human freedom, and what are the limitations on this freedom?
In the second section, we have eight chapters that range in their focus from profound questions, such as Where do thoughts come from? What implications do thoughts have for actors in life’s drama? How are the having of thoughts and one’s ability to engage in construction and reconstruction of one’s world related? to more practical but equally important concerns. Among the latter are questions such as “How does one defend and justify therapeutic practices and interventions when one has not already engaged in the numerous empirical studies ’required’ for their validation?” Or just how many types of stalkers are there and how should they be managed?
Keith E. Davis