A Wittgensteinian Perspective on the Use of Conceptual Analysis in Psychology

This edited volume features the works of a group of philosophers and psychologists who share the collective goal of demonstrating the powerful utility of a form of conceptual analysis - mostly closely identified with Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy - for addressing various issues related to the coherence of scientific claim-making within contemporary psychology. In addition to a foreword written by acclaimed analytic philosopher, P. M. S. Hacker, the volume includes the works of a number of other internationally renowned experts in Wittgensteinian philosophy (e.g., Hans-Johann Glock, Danièle Moyal-Sharrock, Joachim Schulte, Meredith Williams), as well as contributions of psychologists and philosophers focusing in on more particular areas of application of conceptual analysis for resolving confusions within specific areas of psychological research or theory construction. As such, the work presents a nice balance between meta-level reflections on the relevance of Wittgenstein-inspired conceptual analytic methods to psychology and illustrations of concrete applications of such methods.

Tim Racine is Associate Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. His research interests include social cognition and the role of conceptual analysis and evolutionary explanation in psychology. His is co-editor of Moving Ourselves, Moving Others: Motion and Emotion in Intersubjectivity, Consciousness and Language (2012) and The Shared Mind: Perspectives on Intersubjectivity (2008).

Kate Slaney is Associate Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Her research interests include methodological approaches within psychological science, philosophy of psychological and related sciences, and theoretical and applied psychometrics. She is recipient of the Sigmund Koch Award for Early Career Contributions to Psychology from the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology.

Foreword: Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Psychology as a Critical Instrument for the Psychological Sciences; Peter M. S. Hacker
1. Psychology's Inescapable Need for Conceptual Clarification; Daniel D. Hutto
2. Wittgenstein's Method of Conceptual Investigation and Concept Formation in Psychology; Oskari Kuusela
3. Pictures of the Soul; Joachim Schulte
4. Aspect Seeing in Wittgenstein and in Psychology; Nicole Hausen and Michel ter Hark
5. Parallels in the Foundations of Mathematics and Psychology; Meredith Williams
6. Animal Minds: Philosophical and Scientific Aspects; Hans-Johann Glock
7. Realism, But Not empiricism: Wittgenstein Versus Searle; Danièle Moyal-Sharrock
8. Can a Robot Smile? Wittgenstein on Facial Expression; Diane Proudfoot
9. A Return to 'The Inner' in Social Theory: Archer's 'Internal Conversation'; Wes Sharrock and Leonidas Tsilipakos
10. Reducing the Effort in Effortful Control; Stuart G. Shanker and Devin M. Casenhiser
11. The Concepts of Suicidology; Michael D. Maraun
12. The Neuroscientific Case for a Representative Theory of Perception; John Preston and Severin Schroeder
13. Terror Management, Meaning Maintenance and the Concept of Psychological Meaning; Timothy P. Racine and Kathleen L. Slaney
14. A Conceptual Investigation of Inferences Drawn from Infant Habituation Research; Michael A. Tissaw
15. The Unconscious Theory in Modern Cognitivism; Alan Costall