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WHY FAMILY THERAPY SHOULD BE BOTH HOMEOSTATIC AND COHERENT: A KUHNIAN REPLY TO DELL
Author(s) -
Ariel Shlomo,
Carel Cynthia A.,
Tyano Samuel
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1984.tb00576.x
Subject(s) - explication , epistemology , context (archaeology) , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , family therapy , repertoire , reading (process) , sociology , order (exchange) , psychology , philosophy , psychotherapist , linguistics , history , physics , archaeology , finance , quantum mechanics , acoustics , economics
Our reading of the relevant literature, explication of the concepts of family homeostasis, family rules, etc., and critical analysis of Dell's arguments have been oriented by the same systemic, interactional and context‐sensitive paradigm as Dell's. We see the empirical data through the same epistemological spectacles as he does. Therefore, our critique is not only consistent and valid (as admitted by Dell) but also compatible with his world view. His arguments fail on logical and methodological, not epistemological, grounds. The freshly elaborated arguments included in his reply have failed to convince us that the concepts of homeostasis, family rules, family feedback mechanisms, etc., should be discarded. We did and do concede, however, that family theory should “go beyond homeostasis” by adding the concept of coherence to its repertoire, in order to explain second‐order change. The latter concepts should also be formally explicated.