Overview

Presenting a highly innovative exploration of the relationship between philosophical and psychological issues, Edwin L. Hersch argues that psychological theories and practices inescapably rest upon a series of philosophical positions whether they are acknowledged and reflected upon or not. To examine this proposition Hersch develops his Hierarchy of Levels of Theoretical or Philosophical Inquiry Method, which involves the systematic consideration of a series of philosophical questions pertaining to the ontological, general epistemological, field-specific epistemological, and psychological stances adopted (either explicitly or implicitly) by any particular psychological theory. By using this hierarchical framework the book then attempts to develop a new approach to psychological theory and psychotherapeutic practice based largely on the premises of phenomenological philosophy. The scope of the book cuts across a variety of theoretical and professional disciplinary approaches within the broad psychological field in demonstrating the relevance of certain philosophical issues for all of them. Clinicians, theorists and students in the psychological field are presented with a palatable introduction to the importance and inevitability of dealing with philosophy in pursuing their own work. Furthermore, his philosophical explications of a variety of psychological theories provide a new tool with which to better understand, compare, or assess any internal inconsistencies.

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9781487591625

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Reviews

'[An] ambitious, comprehensive, innovative, and scholarly work... I know of no other book that not only advances a psychotherapeutic model based on phenomenology, but so beautifully introduces psychotherapists to the value of understanding the philosophical underpinnings of their work.' --Doris Brothers, The Training and Research Institute for Self Psychology, New York 'This is an engaging, academically respectable, and practically useful text. The author affirms the relevance of philosophy in our intellectual and caring understanding of persons. He undermines the idea that eclecticism in the helping professions is not without its foundations, and that the foundations he discerns make all the difference in how we care for ourselves and others. Psychotherapy is no merely technology; it is how we find ourselves in life.' --Leo Mos, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta

Author Information

Edwin L. Hersch is a psychiatrist/psychotherapist in private practice.

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