The unicity or multiplicity of psychology in today’s world

Abstract

This essayistic paper surveys the issues regarding unicity or multiplicity of psychology. A question coming back repeatedly is the challenge of the causal naturalistic versus the hermeneutic or understanding vision of psychology and mental life. By analysing the exclusive, supplementary, and unifying interpretation of the relations of these two attitudes I emphasize that humans as natural beings constantly urge towards interpretation and strive for meaning. This analysis leads to a narrative interpretation of the human Self. Analyzing the classical and contemporary divisions of psychology a repeatedly reappearing issue is whether division is by itself threatening. I argue that starting from a multiple determination of human beings’ psychology has to accept its own multifaceted nature. Psychology has to look for its new possibilities rather as a collecting fox, and not as a hedgehog, using the metaphor of Isiah Berlin.