Methodical Hermeneutics and Humanistic Psychology

Abstract

In this article, it is argued that the engagement of hermeneutics is common to both the creation of theory in humanistic psychology and the conduct of qualitative research. Development of their theories by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers serve as examples of the tacit use of methodical hermeneutics. With respect to qualitative research, the phenomenological psychological and grounded theory methods are connected with the concept of a human science approach to the social and health sciences, and are examined critically to expose the hermeneutic involvement in them. A call is put out for a meta-methodology of qualitative research based on the methodical type of hermeneutics. Benefits of such a methodology are suggested, especially enhanced integration of the theory and research in humanistic psychology.What came to be known as humanistic psychology originated in the 1950s in the interest of restoring to psychology the nature of what is involved in being a person. Psychology was seen to have reduced persons downward to unconscious drives and wishes, on the one hand, and to behaviors controlled by environmental contingencies, on the other. For the founders of humanistic psychology, these downward reductions deprived psychology of the full range of its subject matter. 2 To correct the reductions, the founders took into account cognition, emotion, feeling, will, morality, ethics, and aesthetics, as well as intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal relationships.

Logic, Hermeneutics, or Both?

“…As indicated elsewhere (Rennie, 2007a), hermeneutics has been defined as "the theory of the operation of understanding in relation to the interpretation of text" (Ricoeur, 1978, p. 141). By "text," the Greeks and medieval Scholastics meant sacred and legal documents.…”

“…The third, attributed mainly to Habermas (1984Habermas ( /1981) applies hermeneutics to the study of social change, emancipation in particular. It has been observed (see Rennie, 2007a) that, compared to methodical hermeneutics, philosophical hermeneutics is directed mainly to ontology (the theory of being) while critical hermeneutics is positioned more at the level of epistemology (theory of knowledge) than at the level of method.…”

“…Another is to face squarely the double hermeneutical nature of empirical material constituted of signs of human kinds by developing hermeneutical ways of dealing with it. As indicated, on another front this work has been going on (Rennie, 1999(Rennie, , 2000(Rennie, , 2007a(Rennie, , 2007bRennie & Fergus, 2006;Rennie & Frommer, 2006). It has led to a translation of Peirce's theory of inference that fits with Stiles' analysis of single cases.…”

Introduction to Special Issue on Community Psychology and the Hermeneutics of Love

“…To present these ideas in an a-historical way would be counter to the spirit of the project. And, as former Division 32 President David Rennie (2007) has argued, hermeneutics provides the most appropriate philosophical foundation for humanistic psychology, since it situates the discipline in a sweet spot between the humanities and social sciences.…”

Life Experiences of Youth Who Were Born with HIV Infection in Puerto Rico: The Voices of Young Survivors

“…Only one was married at the time of the interview; sixteen were single and three were cohabitating (see Table 1). (Grondin, 1994;Rennie, 2007) participants' quotes in Spanish). Caregivers' deceptions and their implications.…”