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18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 1. Psychology

[general structure of the mind's operations]

4 ideas
It is psychology which reveals the basic problems [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Psychology is now once again the road to the fundamental problems.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil [1886], §023)
     A reaction: This may become the epigraph of my great book, which will have as working title 'The Psychology of Metaphysics'. If you trawl through this collection, you will see where I am going! (A tough job, but easier than reading Hegel).
In no important way can psychology be reduced to the physical sciences [Davidson]
     Full Idea: There is no important sense in which psychology can be reduced to the physical sciences.
     From: Donald Davidson (The Material Mind [1973], p.259)
     A reaction: In no 'important' way can the beauty of the Lake District be reduced to geology - but it is geology. 'Important' to whom? To a metaphysician, I would say psychology does reduce to physics, and that is important, but it is not important to a psychologist.
Most psychologists are now cognitivists [Hanna]
     Full Idea: Most psychologists have now dropped behaviourism and adopted cognitivism: the thesis that the rational human mind is essentially an active innately specified information-processor.
     From: Robert Hanna (Rationality and Logic [2006], Intro)
Psychologists measure personality along five dimensions [New Sci.]
     Full Idea: Psychologists have long thought that measuring on a scale of just five personality dimensions - agreeableness, extroversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and openness to new experiences - can capture all human variations in behaviour and attitude.
     From: New Scientist writers (New Scientist articles [2013], 2015.06.13)
     A reaction: Researchers are considering a sixth - called 'honesty-humility' - which is roughly how devious people are. The five mentioned here seem to be a well entrenched orthodoxy among professional psychologists. Is personality more superficial than character?