Perhaps the top competitor to my love of psychology is my love of philosophy. Both fields pursue similar subjects such as the nature of mind, identity, and free will and are thus fields that will always be in dialogue with the other. William James embodied this dual attraction as both a psychologist (with his book “Principles of Psychology”) and philosopher (with his essay “The Will to Believe” and book The Varieties of Religious Experience”, not to mention he is one of the fathers of the philosophical field of Pragmatism). Below I provide three main areas of philosophic inquiry in which psychology has, in one way or another, contributed to the debate.
On the nature of mind
The philosophy of mind is an area of study affected by psychology and cognitive science. This includes studies on mental states, the problem of consciousness, and the mind-body dilemma between dualism and physicalism. Skinner’s theory of behaviorism holds a top position on the debate of mental states such as the Turing Test, the Chinese Room Argument, and Artificial Intelligence.
Of Identity
Freud’s and Jung’s ideas on an identity of the self- enter the philosophical debates of identity with Sartre and Nietzsche, following a theme of self-analysis of our depth awareness.
Of Free Will
Freud’s idea of the unconscious also affects debates of free will, being more in favor of determinism. As Truman Madsen once said, “Hypnotized, a person may be told on awakening he will take off his shirt and stand on his head, but that he will forget the instruction. He does so, then invents the most ingenious but clearly false “reasons” for his behavior. Is not all our conduct thus controlled and is not “freedom” just a name for our ignorance of hidden causes?”(Madsen).
Psychology lends itself to more than counseling and therapy, but also to “the terrible questions” of existence.
-Spencer Judd
References
Madsen, Truman G. Eternal Man. Deseret Book, 2013.