History and

Schools of
Psychology
BS2
Week 1 Traditional Science and Modern Concepts
Instructor Bushra Tauseef
Learning Objectives

1. Why do we, as students of Psychology, need to define

Science?
2. Know the meaning and concept of empirical
observation.
3. Be able to define:
1. Metaphysics, Materialism, Idealism, Epistemology,
Rationalism, Empiricism, Ethics, Hedonism, Cynicism
2. Features of traditional science
3. Revisions to the traditional views of science
What is Science?

Recap:
Systematic
Testable
Falsifiable
Empirical Evidence
History of Science?

Philosophy is the mother of all knowledge.

So Philosophy has always existed.

How did Science come into being then?

Why we need to define
Science?
Claim by influential individuals that Psychology is not a
science as it is a subjective interpretation of subjective
individual experiences.
What happened before
Science?
Was everyone a Philosopher?
Was everyone a thinker?
System of belief:
Church dogma
Superstitions
Authority
Abstract thought processes
Science came into being by
observing the phenomenon of
nature.

ThroughEMPIRICAL
OBSERVATION.
What concepts did Philosophy
employ then?
1. Metaphysics
i. Materialism
ii. Idealism
2. Epistemology
i. Rationalism
ii. Empiricism
3. Ethics
i. Hedonism
ii. Cynicism
1. METAPHYSICS

Is the study of questions such as, What is the world

made of? or What is the ultimate substance of all
reality?
Suggested noumenon unseen real beneath the
phenomenon the unreal seen
What are these then? Are these something material
materialism or are these more spiritual in nature
idealism?
Materialism and Idealism

Materialism
everything in the universe is material (physical), including
those things that others refer to as mental.
Idealism
ultimate reality consists of ideas or perceptions and is
therefore not physical.
2. EPISTEMOLOGY

Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge: How do

we know what is true or false, what is real or not? Can
we know anything for certain, or is it ultimately
hopeless?
Two ways of studying:
I. Empiricism
II. Rationalism
Empiricism and Rationalism

Empiricism
all knowledge comes through the senses.

Rationalism
knowledge is a matter of reason, thought.
3. ETHICS

Ethics
is the philosophical understanding of good and bad, right
and wrong. It is often called morality, and most consider
the two words synonymous. After all, ethics comes from
ethos, which is Greek for customs, and morality comes
from mores, which is Latin for customs.
Two extremes hedonism and cynicism
Hedonism and Cynicism

Hedonism
good and bad come down to what I like and what I dont
like, what gives me pleasure and what gives me pain.
Cynicism
world is essentially evil, and we can only work at
distancing ourselves from it and moving towards the
ultimate good, which is God.
Features of Traditional
Science
1. Combination of empiricism and rationalism.

2. A scientific theory has two main functions:

it organizes empirical observations, and
it acts as a guide for future observations.
Features of Traditional
Science
3. A scientific law can be defined as a consistently
observed relationship between two or more classes
of empirical events. Amenable to public observation.
Features of Traditional
Science
4. Determinism
The belief that everything that occurs does so because of
known or knowable causes and that if these causes were
known in advance, an event could be predicted with
complete accuracy. Also, if the causes of an event were
known, the event could be prevented by preventing its
causes. Thus, the knowledge of an events causes allows
the prediction and control of the event.
Revisions to Traditional
Views of Science
Popper vs. Kuhn
Karl Popper 1902 - 1994

Popper Science does not start with empirical

observation but with the presence of a problem and
then the observation of the problem not of the
empirical phenomenon.
Principle of Falsifiability
for a theory to be considered scientific it must specify the
observations that, if made, would refute the theory. To be
considered scientific, a theory must make risky predictions.
Popper Principle of
Falsifiability
Contrary to what many believe, if any conceivable
observation agrees with a theory, the theory is weak,
not strong.
For a theory to be scientific, it must make risky
predictionspredictions that run a real risk of being
incorrect.
Theories that do not make risky predictions or that
explain phenomena after they have already occurred
are, according to Popper, not scientific - postdiction.
Thomas Kuhn

Kuhn Science is not as objective as you think. On the

contrary, it is quite a subjective paradigm.
the activities of members of a scientific community are
governed by a shared set of beliefs called a paradigm. This
paradigmatic, or normal, science continues until an
existing paradigm is displaced by another paradigm.
 RECAP
Traditional Features of
Science
1. Empirical observations
lead to rationalisation of
those observations.
2. Scientific theory organizes
these observations for
future observations.
3. Scientific law observed
relationships
4. Assumption of
determinism and control
of events.
Revised Features of
Science
1. Observation of
problems rather than
naturally existing or
occurring phenomenon.
2. Falsifiable scientific
theories.
3. Science is subjective
according to the times
and people who are
studying it.
Think About

What do you think about Determinism and Free Will?

Is Psychology a subjective field of study and practice?