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Positivism and clinical psychology
Author(s) -
Miller Edgar
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0879(199902)6:1<1::aid-cpp180>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - positivism , doctrine , epistemology , logical positivism , legal positivism , psychology , term (time) , sociology , philosophy , law , political science , physics , theology , public law , philosophy of law , quantum mechanics
Approaches to clinical psychology which favour quantification and experimental methods are often criticized as being ‘positivistic’. Critics typically do not define what they mean by ‘positivism’. At best they merely offer hints as to what they mean by this term. An outline of positivism as a philosophical doctrine is provided and it is agreed that in terms of any meaningful definition, positivism is a flawed doctrine. However, it is also argued that those approaches which critics typically claim to exhibit features of ‘positivistic’, do not necessarily do so. ‘Positivism’ is not a helpful term in discussing the appropriate epistemologies for clinical psychology. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.