A Wittgensteinian Perspective on the Use of Conceptual Analysis in Psychology

This edited volume features the works of a group of philosophers and psychologists who share the collective goal of demonstrating the powerful utility of a form of conceptual analysis - mostly closely identified with Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy - for addressing various issues related to the coherence of scientific claim-making within contemporary psychology. In addition to a foreword written by acclaimed analytic philosopher, P. M. S. Hacker, the volume includes the works of a number of other internationally renowned experts in Wittgensteinian philosophy (e.g., Hans-Johann Glock, Danièle Moyal-Sharrock, Joachim Schulte, Meredith Williams), as well as contributions of psychologists and philosophers focusing in on more particular areas of application of conceptual analysis for resolving confusions within specific areas of psychological research or theory construction. As such, the work presents a nice balance between meta-level reflections on the relevance of Wittgenstein-inspired conceptual analytic methods to psychology and illustrations of concrete applications of such methods. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction: Conceptual Analysis and Psychology: An Overview....Pages 1-9 Prologue: Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Psychology as a Critical Instrument for the Psychological Sciences....Pages 10-27 Psychology’s Inescapable Need for Conceptual Clarification....Pages 28-50 Wittgenstein’s Method of Conceptual Investigation and Concept Formation in Psychology....Pages 51-71 Pictures of the Soul....Pages 72-86 Aspect Seeing in Wittgenstein and in Psychology....Pages 87-109 Parallels in the Foundations of Mathematics and Psychology....Pages 110-129 Animal Minds: Philosophical and Scientific Aspects....Pages 130-152 Realism, but Not Empiricism: Wittgenstein versus Searle....Pages 153-171 Can a Robot Smile? Wittgenstein on Facial Expression....Pages 172-194 A Return to ‘the Inner’ in Social Theory: Archer’s ‘Internal Conversation’....Pages 195-213 Reducing the Effort in Effortful Control....Pages 214-232 The Concepts of Suicidology....Pages 233-252 The Neuroscientific Case for a Representative Theory of Perception....Pages 253-273 Terror Management, Meaning Maintenance, and the Concept of Psychological Meaning....Pages 274-291 A Conceptual Investigation of Inferences Drawn from Infant Habituation Research....Pages 292-311 The Unconscious Theory in Modern Cognitivism....Pages 312-327 Back Matter....Pages 329-332 Cover; Half-Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; Abbreviations of Wittgenstein'sWorks; Introduction; Prologue: Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Psychology as a Critical Instrument for the Psychological Sciences; 1 Psychology's Inescapable Need for Conceptual Clarification; 2 Wittgenstein's Method of Conceptual Investigation and Concept Formation in Psychology; 3 Pictures of the Soul; 4 Aspect Seeing in Wittgenstein and in Psychology; 5 Parallels in the Foundations of Mathematics and Psychology This edited volume includes contributions from internationally renowned experts in the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. It applies his later philosophy to concrete issues pertaining to the integrity of scientific claims in a broad spectrum of research domains within contemporary psychology.