The right stuff
pp. 381-391
in: Leendert Mos (ed), Annals of theoretical psychology, Berlin, Springer, 1986Abstract
In a paper handed to me last semester I found the statement: "Memories are located in the brain." I have forgotten precisely what I wrote in the margin, but it was something like this: "Stop by my office and let's talk about the metaphysical implications of what you have said." Perhaps because I have a reputation among undergraduates for being crotchety and querulous, the student did not pick up on my invitation. Then, again, perhaps she did not do so because words like metaphysical make undergraduate majors in psychology uncomfortable. Like their mentors the professional psychologists, they avoid philosophical issues unless those issues concern certain verifies about the philosophy of science deemed to be sacred by psychologists, particularly experimental psychologists. Given this unease, it is hardly surprising that the most astonishing positions about the nature of human beings go unchallenged—that is to say, are accepted unthinkingly—by all stripes of psychologists. Perhaps it is too much to hope that D. N. Robinson´s The Philosophy of Psychology will change that, but at least there is the possibility.