Magne Arve Flaten (1994) What is Meant by "reductionism"?
. Psycoloquy: 5(04) Metapsychology (2)
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Psycoloquy 5(04): What is Meant by "reductionism"?
WHAT IS MEANT BY "REDUCTIONISM"?
Book Review of Rakover on Metapsychology
Magne Arve Flaten
Department of Psychology
University of Tromso
N-9037 Tromso, Norway
magnef@psyk.uit.no
Abstract
The meaning of the term reductionism is discussed. It is
argued that reductionism is one of the ways in which psychology
makes progress, and philosophical arguments against reductionism
seem to have little impact on research in, for example, biological
psychology.
Keywords
behavior, causality, experimentation, explanation,
introspection, mind-body problem, observation, philosophy,
psychology, reductionism, science, theory.
References
- Hollard, V.D. & Delius, J.D. (1982). Rotational Invariance in Visual Pattern Recognition by Pigeons and Humans. Science, 218, 804-806.
- Pavlov, I.P. (1927). Conditioned Reflexes (G.V. Anrep, transl.). Dover Publications: New York.
- Powell, D.A. & Levine-Bryce, D. (1988). A Comparison of Two Model Systems of Associative Learning: Heart Rate and Eyeblink Conditioning in the Rabbit. Psychophysiology, 25, 672-682.
- Rakover, S.S. (1990). Metapsychology: Missing Links in Behavior, Mind, and Science. New York: Paragon/Solomon.
- Rakover, S.S. (1993). Precis of "Metapsychology: Missing Links in Behavior, Mind, and Science." PSYCOLOQUY 4(55) metapsychology.1.rakover.
- Shepard, R. N. and Metzler, J. (1971) Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science 171: 701-703.