From AI to Zeitgeist - (International Contributions in Psychology) by N H Pronko (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book is a reflection of a growing awareness among philosophers and psychologists of the inescapable entanglement of psychology with its philosophical underpinnings. It deals with the dissection of the assumptions that control contemporary inquiry into psychological events, and it offers a preliminary examination of the consequences for understanding behavior that different assumptions provide. The broad scope of topics provides a number of bases from which to view problems and questions bearing on the philosophy of science for psychology. Pronko examines how guiding postulates determine the outcome of inquiry, raises new questions and new possibilities regarding old problems, and stresses the importance of seeing known facts in a new light and describing new theories.

Book Synopsis

This book is a reflection of a growing awareness among philosophers and psychologists of the inescapable entanglement of psychology with its philosophical underpinnings. It deals with the dissection of the assumptions that control contemporary inquiry into psychological events, and it offers a preliminary examination of the consequences for understanding behavior that different assumptions provide. The broad scope of topics provides a number of bases from which to view problems and questions bearing on the philosophy of science for psychology. Pronko examines how guiding postulates determine the outcome of inquiry, raises new questions and new possibilities regarding old problems, and stresses the importance of seeing known facts in a new light and describing new theories.

Review Quotes

?This is a collection of reflections on 90 different topics that bridge philosophy and psychology, including snippets from other fields. Besides the two entries mentioned in the title, others (picked more or less at random) include Cause and Effect'; Fashions in Science and Elsewhere'; Interbehavioral Psychology: An Introduction'; Metaphors'; Paradigms'; Reality: What is It?'; Sociobiology'; Tissue Excitation'; and XYY Chromosome and Criminality.' As this list indicates, the topics covered are wide ranging and probably idosyncratic to the author's interests. No attempt is made to provide exhaustive coverage of any entry; rather, the author succinctly presents his viewpoint or that of someone else. . . . I suspect that the book will serve most readers, as it did this reviewer, as a compendium of interesting tidbits and observations on a wide range of topics.?-Contemporary Psychology

"This is a collection of reflections on 90 different topics that bridge philosophy and psychology, including snippets from other fields. Besides the two entries mentioned in the title, others (picked more or less at random) include Cause and Effect'; Fashions in Science and Elsewhere'; Interbehavioral Psychology: An Introduction'; Metaphors'; Paradigms'; Reality: What is It?'; Sociobiology'; Tissue Excitation'; and XYY Chromosome and Criminality.' As this list indicates, the topics covered are wide ranging and probably idosyncratic to the author's interests. No attempt is made to provide exhaustive coverage of any entry; rather, the author succinctly presents his viewpoint or that of someone else. . . . I suspect that the book will serve most readers, as it did this reviewer, as a compendium of interesting tidbits and observations on a wide range of topics."-Contemporary Psychology

About the Author

N.H. PRONKO is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Wichita State University, Kansas.