Rhetorical analysis and the question of relativism

an examination of the views of Kenneth J. Gergen

Terwee

pp. 79-92

in: Terwee (ed), Hermeneutics in psychology and psychoanalysis, Berlin, Springer, 1990

Abstract

Discussions about psychology's fragmentation and the possibilities for unification and progress often center around the concept of interpretation. To suppose that psychological knowledge has interpretative aspects is seen by many as a potential danger for the objective status of the discipline as it is traditionally understood, namely as an empirical-analytical science modelled after the natural sciences. Customarily, the ensuing discussion centers around the question whether psychology has to be strictly regarded as an empirical-analytical science which avoids interpretation, or whether it can or should be conceived as an interpretative or hermeneutical enterprise (cf. Schlenker, 1974).

Cited authors

Gergen Kenneth J.