Between Mind and Nature: A History of Psychology [Hardcover]

From William James to Ivan Pavlov, John Dewey to Sigmund Freud, the Würzburg School to the Chicago School, psychology has spanned centuries and continents. Today, the word is an all-encompassing name for a bewildering range of beliefs about what psychologists know and do, and this intrinsic interest in knowing how our own and other’s minds work has a story as fascinating and complex as humankind itself. InBetween Mind and Nature, Roger Smith explores the history of psychology and its relation to religion, politics, the arts, social life, the natural sciences, and technology.

 

Considering the big questions bound up in the history of psychology, Smith investigates what human nature is, whether psychology can provide answers to human problems, and whether the notion of being an individual depends on social and historical conditions. He also asks whether a method of rational thinking exists outside the realm of natural science. Posing important questions about the value and direction of psychology today,Between Mind and Natureis a cogently written book for those wishing to know more about the quest for knowledge of the mind.

Roger Smithis an independent scholar living in Moscow and emeritus reader in history of science at Lancaster University, UK.

Preface

1. Early Strands of Mind
2. The Mind’s Place in Nature
3. Shaping Psychology
4. Psychological Society
5. Varieties of Science
6. Unconscious Mind
7. Individuals and Societies
8. Where is It All Going?

References for Quotations
Index

Smith has managed to achieve what the reviewer took to be an almost impossible task: to write a single comprehensive volume on the history of psychology while at the same time acknowledging that (a) there are many histories of psychology, (b) there is no single coherent discipline of psychology, and (c) there were multiple devlSQ