Justice and the Critique of Pure Psychology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Task

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 3-19

3. From Mastery to Justice to Critique

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 21-21

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   2. Status Congruence and Cognitive Consistency

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 23-26

   3. Research on Status Congruence

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 27-33

   4. Equity and Equality as Sociohistorical Principles of Justice

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 35-41

4. Expanding the Critique

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43

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   2. Psychology’s Ideals

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 45-51

   3. The Critical Theory of Society

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 53-70

5. The Critique of Pure Psychology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-72

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   2. Positivist Empiricism versus Alternatives to the Objectivist Illusion

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 73-84

   3. Psychology and Subjectivity

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 85-93

   4. Psychology’s Subject

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 95-110

6. Psychology and Society

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-114

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   2. Psychology

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 115-121

   3. A Transformative Rationale

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 123-130

   4. Pure Psychology and Societal Reproduction

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 131-142

7. The Critique and Justice According to Psychology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143

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   2. A Critique of the Psychology of Justice

      • Edward E. Sampson

      Pages 145-161

Empiricist philosophy of science of the kind that promised truth through method and a unification of science now lies in disarray. Arguments over the indeterminancy of theoretical language, the inadequacy of induction, the empirical incommensurability of competing theories, the possibility or im­ possibility of scientific progress, and the applicability of natural science metatheory and methods to problems of human action have allIed to a loss in confidence. As it is commonly said, the philosophy of science is now in a "postempiricist" phase. It is a phase marked by heated disagreement over the possibility of empirically grounded scientific knowledge. Because the orienting assumptions of traditional psychology had been largely derived from the early logical empiricist program for science, the general deteriora­ tion in confidence at the philosophic level was inevitably to have repercus­ sions within psychology. The extensive ferment that has occurred within so­ cial psychology over the past decade, often termed "the crisis in social psychology," must properly be viewed within this context. And, in cases where criticisms of the traditional craft have been initiated on other than philosophical grounds, traditional logical empiricist answers have no longer been found sustaining. In effect, the science of psychology no longer rests on a firm metatheoretical base, and the future remains very much in the bal­ ance. Within this critical period of search and reappraisal, there are few voices that equal in significance that of Edward Sampson.

• Action
• Confidence
• ETA
• child
• crisis
• criticism
• knowledge
• language
• philosophy
• psychology
• science
• social psychology

• Wright Institute, Berkeley, USA

  Edward E. Sampson

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