A Logical Analysis of ‘Psychological Isomorphism’

Madden, Edward H.

doi:10.1093/bjps/viii.31.177

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Moreover, when one examines the way isomorphism is used within psychology, one can easily detect a variety of senses, just as Gibson found with set . What isomorphism means in psychology has been a matter for debate since the time of the introduction of the term (Boring, 1937; Madden, 1957). Mary Henle (1984), one of the foremost experts on Köhler's work, wrote a paper that was in some ways analogous to Gibson's (1941) in that it bemoaned the inconsistent ways in which isomorphism had been used.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The vocabulary of anglophone psychology in the context of other subjects.

Benjafield

2013

History of Psychology

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Anglophone psychology shares its vocabulary with several other subjects. Some of the more obvious subjects that have parts of their vocabulary in common with Anglophone psychology include biology (e.g., dominance), chemistry (e.g., isomorphism), philosophy (e.g., phenomenology), and theology (e.g., mediator). Using data from the Oxford English Dictionary as well as other sources, the present study explored the history of these common vocabularies, with a view to broadening our understanding of the relation between the history of psychology and the histories of other subjects. It turns out that there are at least 156 different subjects that share words with psychology. Those that have the most words in common with psychology are mathematics, biology, physics, medicine, chemistry, philosophy, law, music, linguistics, electricity, pathology, and computing. Words that have senses in other subjects and have their origins in ordinary language are used more frequently as PsycINFO keywords than words that were invented specifically for use in psychology. These and other results are interpreted in terms of the ordinary language roots of the vocabulary of Anglophone psychology and other subjects, the degree to which operational definitions have determined the meaning of the psychological senses of words, the role of the psychologist in interdisciplinary research, and the validity of psychological essentialism.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The vocabulary of anglophone psychology in the context of other subjects.

Benjafield

2013

History of Psychology

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“…58ff), with multiple domains being isomorphic. Madden (1957) distinguished between an isomorphism between stimuli and sensory responses; between receptor events and afferent neural processes; and between neural events and phenomenal (conscious) events. The latter pertains to what Fechner (1860) had called internal psychophysics (innere Psychophysik), i.e.…”

Section: What Does Psychoneural Mean?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It should also be stressed that Köhler himself was certainly aware of the mathematical meaning of our concept, as he was trained in physics and mathematics under Max Planck. Secondly, and more importantly, the historical reception of our concept has clearly interpreted it in the mathematical sense (e.g Madden 1957;. Lehar 2003).…”

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confidence: 99%

Psychoneural Isomorphism: From Metaphysics to Robustness

Vernazzani

2020

Studies in Brain and Mind

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At the beginning of the 20 th century, Gestalt psychologists put forward the concept of psychoneural isomorphism, which was meant to replace Fechner's obscure notion of psychophysical parallelism and provide a heuristics that may facilitate the search for the neural correlates of the mind. However, the concept has generated much confusion in the debate, and today its role is still unclear. In this contribution, I will attempt a little conceptual spadework in clarifying the concept of psychoneural isomorphism, focusing exclusively on conscious visual perceptual experience and its neural correlates. Firstly, I will outline the history of our concept, and its alleged metaphysical and epistemic roles. Then, I will clarify the nature of isomorphism and rule out its metaphysical role. Finally, I will review some epistemic roles of our concept, zooming in on the work of Jean Petitot, and suggest that it does not play a relevant heuristic role. I conclude suggesting that psychoneural isomorphism might be an indicator of robustness for certain mathematical descriptions of perceptual content.Acknowledgments For financial support, I would like to thank the Barbara-Wengeler-Stiftung and the Volkswagenstiftung's project "Situated Cognition. Perceiving the World and Understanding other Minds" led by Tobias Schlicht. For comments on earlier versions, many thanks also to

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“…For one may see Wittgenstein's philosophical endeavours as a defence of humanistic understanding against the illegitimate encroachment of the natural sciences. (Hacker, 2001, p. 42) Isomorphism Isomorphism was, of course, not Köhler's invention (Madden, 1957). The term is used in chemistry, mineralogy, mathematics, and biology, as well as psychology.…”

Section: Seeing-asmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Wittgenstein on Köhler and Gestalt psychology

Benjafield

2008

J History Behavioral Science

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In an article in this journal, Nicholas Pastore rejected Ludwig Wittgenstein's critique of Wolfgang Köhler and Gestalt psychology. Pastore appears not to have appreciated Wittgenstein's argument that Köhler mistook conceptual questions for factual ones. A simi-lar confusion seems to underlie at least some aspects of contemporary neuroscience. Be that as it may, Wittgenstein has had minimal influence on the research practices of psychologists while Köhler remains influential. This outcome would not have surprised Wittgenstein, who predicted that scientists would not see his work as relevant to theirs.

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A Logical Analysis of ‘Psychological Isomorphism’

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

The vocabulary of anglophone psychology in the context of other subjects.

The vocabulary of anglophone psychology in the context of other subjects.

Psychoneural Isomorphism: From Metaphysics to Robustness

Revisiting Wittgenstein on Köhler and Gestalt psychology

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