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Catching Up With Aristotle

A Journey in Quest of General Psychology

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Niels Engelsted

    1. Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen Department of Psychology, Copenhagen, Denmark

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  • Presents the field as a coherent ongoing quest rather than a chaotic crisis
  • Presents a radical new understanding of human evolution
  • Contains an important analysis and discussion of the vital concept of labor in Marxism
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Psychology (BRIEFSPSYCHOL)

Part of the book sub series: SpringerBriefs in Theoretical Advances in Psychology (BRIEFSTHEORET)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
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  2. Within Circles of History

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Introduction

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 3-6

    3. The Heritage

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 7-21

    4. Marxism and General Psychology

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 23-32

  3. General Psychology—The Four Corners of the Puzzle

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33
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    2. Sentience

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 35-39

    3. Intentionality

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 41-48

    4. Mind

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 49-57

    5. The Problem of the Human Being

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 59-65

    6. The Marxist Legacy

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 67-78

    7. The Overlooked Dimension

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 79-88

    8. The Secret of the Human Being

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 89-93

    9. The Creative Double Negation and the Non-Non-Cascade

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 95-111

    10. Looking Toward the Future

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 113-116

    11. General Psychology at Journey’s End

      • Niels Engelsted
      Pages 117-120

  4. Back Matter

    Pages 121-157
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Keywords

About this book

This Brief presents the argument for the need to re-establish the theoretical focus of general psychology in contemporary psychological research. It begins with a detailed account of the current “crisis” of psychology and our modern disconnect from general psychology. Chapters present the works of Aristotle and A.N. Leontiev, using their ideas to outline a long wanted general psychology. The general psychology delineates the four corner posts of the domain of psychology: Sentience, Intentionality, Mind, and Human Consciousness, and explains why they are all necessary but not the same. Besides a historical discussion, which aims to demonstrate how Marxism got it right, and then not, this Brief presents a new radical theory of human evolution, which credits the Adam-and-Eve story with a vital link hitherto missed by Marxism, Darwinism, and paleoanthropology. In addition, it argues why a new understanding is important in the Anthropocene Age. 


Catching Up with Aristotle will be of interest to psychologists, undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers. 


Reviews

“A classic in Psychology has been born! Among other things this small book will have major consequences for economic theory as it defines and discusses the concept of self-interest and ‘other-interest.’ If you are the slightest interested in psychology, this book is short, clear, and very easy to read.” ( Jesper Döpping, Mahidol University International College, Thailand)

“This book—different from many written in psychology—is a masterful exposure of basic ideas that have lingered on for two millennia. The reader can have the pleasure of thinking together with the author. It is a rare treat of honest intellectual sharing.” ( Jaan Valsiner, Aalborg University, Denmark)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen Department of Psychology, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Niels Engelsted

About the author

Niels Engelsted, retired from teaching in 2012. Prior to his retirement, he served as the head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Engelsted received his doctorate from the University of Copenhagen and his postdoctorate from the University of Aarhus. He is the author of many publications, including Evolution, Sleep, and Depression from Copenhagen Academic Press. He has also published articles in many journals, including the Bulletin of Anthropological Psychology, Journal of Anthropological Psychology, Current Science, and Mind, Culture, and Activity. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Catching Up With Aristotle

  • Book Subtitle: A Journey in Quest of General Psychology

  • Authors: Niels Engelsted

  • Series Title: SpringerBriefs in Psychology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51088-0

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-51087-3Published: 26 January 2017

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-51088-0Published: 20 January 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2192-8363

  • Series E-ISSN: 2192-8371

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 157

  • Number of Illustrations: 13 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Cognitive Psychology

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