POSTMODERN, POST-CARTESIAN POSITIONINGS ON THE SUBJECT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Descartes's philosophical position, founded upon a mind/body dualism, has had a strong influence on psychology. His dualistic system has sup ported the creation of a discipline in which individuals are viewed bo th as systems affected by mechanistic bodily emanations and as self-re gulating agents replete with self-awareness and the capacity for moral responsibility. The purpose of Harwood Fisher's (1995) paper is to de monstrate that this Cartesian view is crucial to the continuation of a psychological science, which has this form of being as its subject. T he major antagonists of these goals are those involved in the postmode rn move in psychology, and he focuses especially on the work of Kennet h Gergen, Rom Harre and John Shotter. My attempt here is to expose the manner in which Fisher masks his desire as reason, and to invite him to accept his desires as a foundationless, a priori commitment. Furthe r I contend that possibilities other than chaos among faceless automat ons can result from the erasure of the Cartesian legacy from psycholog ical theory. On the contrary, my feminist postmodern reframing holds t hat a system that enforces a hierarchy within which the rational (mind /soul) elements are designated as the masters of the inferior body (em otions) reproduces the male/female dichotomy. This polarity, a hallmar k of patriarchal history, is deeply problematic from the position of p ostmodern feminism. Finally I pose the possibility of relational selve s as an alternative to the Cartesian self as the subject of psychology .