Psychology, Science

People are frequently surprised when I refer to psychology as science. This surprise reveals some common misconceptions about what “science” and “psychology” mean. I am piecing together this post out of snippets of two old rants in order to address those misconceptions for future reference.

Finding Reality: Science, Knowledge, and the “World Out There”

October 3rd, 2009

Descartes began his metaphysical analysis from a standpoint of universal doubt, and this starting point is as far as pure logic can take us. There is no a priori way of knowing anything beyond the first clause of his famous statement: “I think.” The continuation, “…therefore I am,” is a conclusion drawn from the experience of thinking. All knowledge, including metaphysical beliefs, must be the product of some knowledge-making paradigm. Logic, the simplest such paradigm, can produce endless tautologies filled with “if” statements,[1] but more interesting concepts cannot be known without a more complex epistemology.