HISTORY OF EPISTEMOLOGY FOR PSYCHOLOGY 2
Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: CHIARA MILITELLOExpected Learning Outcomes
After following the course, the student will possess a solid knowledge of the main epistemological theories, something that is needed to understand the scientific status of the various psychological disciplines. The study of epistemology will also contribute, in a decisive way, to the acquisition of the critical spirit that is necessary both to begin a self-learning path and to explain the methodological assumptions of one’s field studies and of the research reported in the scientific literature.
The student will be familiar with the themes and vocabulary of philosophy, which will allow him to understand the philosophical debates that most interest psychologists. Vocabulary is particularly important, because the student will use a specialized vocabulary in this subject, just as in the other subjects he studies. The study of epistemology, or philosophy of science, will also guarantee the possession of the awareness of the complexity of the phenomena that are studied by biological and human sciences (to both of which psychology belongs in many ways) and of the problems that, consequently, are posed to those who try to “map” these phenomena. Finally, the study of the philosophy of science will provide the student with interdisciplinary skills.
The student will be familiar with the themes and vocabulary of philosophy, which will allow him to understand the philosophical debates that most interest psychologists. Vocabulary is particularly important, because the student will use a specialized vocabulary in this subject, just as in the other subjects he studies. The study of epistemology, or philosophy of science, will also guarantee the possession of the awareness of the complexity of the phenomena that are studied by biological and human sciences (to both of which psychology belongs in many ways) and of the problems that, consequently, are posed to those who try to “map” these phenomena. Finally, the study of the philosophy of science will provide the student with interdisciplinary skills.
Course Structure
The teaching will be carried out through lectures, a method that will ensure the transmission of contents and methods. In order to achieve the objectives relating to learning and communication skills, questions for clarification and deepening by the students will be encouraged during the lessons. Lessons will include guided reading of philosophical texts, in order to develop the ability to understand this kind of writings.
Required Prerequisites
No propaedeutic knowledge is required.
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance is strongly recommended, as the professor’s exposition of epistemological theories and explanation of philosophical texts greatly facilitates the students’ acquisition of the content.
Detailed Course Content
The epistemological problems of psychology. The epistemological foundations of the main theoretical paradigms in psychology. Behaviourism. Cognitivism. Social constructionism. Relational systemic approach. Psychoanalysis.
Goals and outcomes of
scientific research. The role and impact of science in western civilisation.
The moral responsibility of the scientist. Scientific and philosophical trends.
Conformism and freedom of thought. Overconfidence in science: neo-positivism
and materialism. Excessive distrust in science: historicism and relativism.
Science as an achievement of human rationality. The fallibility of science.
Science as an inquiry always susceptible to revision. Intellectual laziness
induced by orthodoxies. Critical rationalism. The image of science as gradual
progress towards truth. Scientific revolutions. The web of scientific
explanations. Phenomena causing paradigm shifts. Interaction between social
reality and science. The determination of scientific problems and their
solutions. History of the concept of truth-telling. The risks of truth-telling.
Relationship between truth and power. The problematisation of truth. Genealogy
of the critical attitude in Western philosophy.
Textbook Information
1. Marco Castiglioni, Epistemologia e psicologia, EDUCatt 2001, 128 pp. [ISBN 9788883111280]
2. Karl R. Popper, The Myth of the Framework: In Defence of Science and Rationality, Routledge 1995, 248 pages. [ISBN 978-0415135559]
3. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press 2012, 264 pages.
4. Michael Foucault, Discourse and truth: The problematization of parrhesia, ed. by Joseph Pearson, Northwestern University 1985, 121 pages.| Author | Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marco Castiglioni | Epistemologia e psicologia | EDUCatt | 2001 | 9788883111280 |
| Karl R. Popper | Il mito della cornice. Difesa della razionalità e della scienza | Il Mulino | 2004 | 978-88-15-09738-5 |
| Thomas S. Kuhn | La struttura delle rivoluzioni scientifiche, trad. di Adriano Carugo | Einaudi | 2009 | 9788806199005 |
| Michel Foucault | Discorso e verità nella Grecia antica, a cura di Adelina Galeotti | Donzelli | 2005 | 9788879899659 |
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The epistemological status of psychology | 1 (prima parte, capp. 1 e 6) |
| 2 | Theoretical and practical sciences | 1 (prima parte, cap. 2) |
| 3 | Epistemological models of the theoretical sciences | 1 (prima parte, cap. 3) |
| 4 | Epistemological models of the practical sciences | 1 (prima parte, cap. 4) |
| 5 | Epistemological models of psychology | 1 (prima parte, cap. 5) |
| 6 | Freud and psychoanalysis | 1 (seconda parte, cap. 1) |
| 7 | Behaviourism | 1 (seconda parte, cap. 2) |
| 8 | Constructivism and cognitivism | 1 (seconda parte, cap. 3) |
| 9 | Social constructionism | 1 (seconda parte, cap. 4) |
| 10 | Complexity epistemology | 1 (seconda parte, cap. 5) |
| 11 | The rationality of scientific revolutions | 2 (chapter 1) |
| 12 | The myth of the framework | 2 (chapter 2) |
| 13 | Reason and revolution | 2 (chapter 3) |
| 14 | Science: problems, aims, responsibilities | 2 (chapter 4) |
| 15 | Philosophy and physics | 2 (chapter 5) |
| 16 | The moral responsibility of the scientist | 2 (chapter 6) |
| 17 | A pluralist approach to the philosophy of history | 2 (chapter 7) |
| 18 | Models, instruments, and truth | 2 (chapter 8) |
| 19 | Epistemology and industrialization | 2 (chapter 9) |
| 20 | The role of history in epistemology | 3 (chapter 1) |
| 21 | The route to normal science | 3 (chapter 2) |
| 22 | The nature of normal science | 3 (chapter 3) |
| 23 | Normal science as puzzle-solving | 3 (chapter 4) |
| 24 | The priority of paradigms | 3 (chapter 5) |
| 25 | Anomaly and the emergence of scientific discoveries | 3 (chapter 6) |
| 26 | Crisis and the emergence of scientific theories | 3 (chapter 7) |
| 27 | The response to crisis | 3 (chapter 8) |
| 28 | The nature and necessity of scientific revolutions | 3 (chapter 9) |
| 29 | Revolutions as changes of world view | 3 (chapter 10) |
| 30 | The invisibility of revolutions | 3 (chapter 11) |
| 31 | The resolution of revolutions | 3 (chapter 12) |
| 32 | Progress through revolutions | 3 (chapter 13) |
| 33 | The meaning and evolution of the word "parrhesia" | 4 (chapters 1 and 2) |
| 34 | Parrhesia in the tragedies of euripides | 4 (chapter 3) |
| 35 | Parrhesia and the crisis of democratic institutions | 4 (chapter 4) |
| 36 | Parrhesia and the care of the self | 4 (chapters 5 and 6) |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Oral examination, assessed on the basis of the following elements: relevance of the answers to the questions asked (necessary to pass the examination); quality of the content, ability to link the various parts of the programme, property of philosophical language, overall expressive capacity (all elements contributing to the final assessment, always provided the answers are relevant).
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
What is the difference between theoretical and practical sciences?
What are the assumptions of social constructionism?
What is practical-prescriptive inference?
In what sense has cognitivism been considered a missed revolution?
What did Hume think of causality?
Popper examines scientific progress from an evolutionary point of view. What does he say about this?
What is the difference between the ‘epistemological super-optimism’ criticised by Popper and his ‘critical optimism’?
What is the nature of ‘normal science’ according to Kuhn?
According to Kuhn, is there progress in science?
What is the relationship between parresia and the crisis of democratic institutions?
What are the peculiarities of philosophical parresia?