A Note on Hart's “A Strategy for Teaching the History and Systems of Psychology”

Abstract

Kuhn's view of science can be used more effectively if it is made clear under what conditions his approach is relevant for psychology. IGrther, presenting Kuhn's wiew without a clearly contrasting one, such as that of Popper, can foster an uncritical attitude towani material presented in history and systems courses.Hart (1 986) discussed how he successfully used aspects of Kuhr~'s (1962Kuhr~'s ( , 1970 The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to provide a framework for his history and systems course. Other authors have also discussed the teaching of history and systems and the importance of the course for a balancecl undergraduate curriculum (e.g., Raphelson, 1979; Robinson, 1979;Smith, 1982). These articles provide useful information for teachers of historv and svstems courses.I agree with much of what ~art'suggesied and have used Kuhn's (1962Kuhn's ( , 1970 view of science as a frame of reference, but with varying degrees of success. I have experienced two ~robl'ems with the use of this framework. The first uroblem concerns the relevance of Kuhn's view for psychology. 1