2018/02/12 by Манолис Дафермос, Dafermos, Manolis
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy #epistemological contradictions #ethics #humanism #positivism #social constructionism
paper · doi:10.26248/eleutherna.v3i0.143
openalex publication_date 2018/02/12 · openalex created_date 2020/05/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
This article attempts to explore the relation between psychology and ethics, by studying the epistemo-logical status of psychology. Emphasis is placed on examining the views of positivism, humanism and social constructionism, as regards the relation between psychology and ethics. According to the positivist approach, psychology is an objective, experimental science that should be free of any moral values and of any attempts to determine what is morally right. Proponents of the humanistic orientation have been critical of the "value neutrality" view of psychology and attempted to highlight the moral dimensions of psychological knowledge. Social constructionists have critiqued individual humanism and proposed a relational humanism that would make the relationship networks encompassing individuals explicit. In conclusion, we established that in examining the relation between psychology and ethics some epistemological contradictions occur, which should be more thoroughly researched.