Théodule Ribot's ambiguous positivism: Philosophical and epistemological strategies in the founding of French scientific psychology
✍ Scribed by Vincent Guillin
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2004
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 102 KB
- Volume
- 40
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5061
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Théodule Ribot (1839–1916) is regarded by many historians of psychology as the
“father” of the discipline in France. Ribot contributed to the development of a “new
psychology” independent from philosophy, relying on the methods of the natural sciences. However, such an
epistemological transition encountered fierce opposition from both the champions of the old‐fashioned
metaphysical psychology and the representatives of the “scientific spirit.” This article focuses on
the objections raised by the latter, and especially philosophers of science, against the possibility of a
scientific psychology. For instance, according to Auguste Comte, psychology does not satisfy certain basic
methodological requirements. To overcome these objections, Ribot, in his La Psychologie Anglaise
Contemporaine (1870/1914), devised an epistemological strategy that amounted to invoking
criticisms of Comte's views made by other representatives of the positivist school, such as John Stuart Mill
and Herbert Spencer. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.