The Problem of Theoretical Psychology

Posted on May 30, 2025 by Britt Anderson

Scientific psychology began as a science of the human mind: a subjective science to complement the objective sciences of physics and biology. It failed. It became satisfied with results instead of answers; measuring behaviors instead of thoughts.

One professional lifespan was enough to forget. Cognitive psychology again tried to model mind. It too failed. Technological progress yielded a neurobehaviorism: cognitive neuroscience; neural correlates substituted for mental causes.

What if the problem isn’t that the question is about minds and what a conscious person feels, but the language we use to express our ideas about answers?