BEYOND MECHANISM AND DUALISM - RETHINKING THE SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Loss of certainty in science and the philosophy of science has generat ed a number of technical and popular works over the past two decades a rguing that contemporary physics paints a relational rather than mecha nistic picture of natural phenomena. Assertions that scientific framew ork based on Newtonian-Cartesian world views are now outmoded challeng e scientists to examine basic principles, assumptions and methods info rming their interpretive framework. This paper considers some of the s cientific foundations of contemporary psychology, especially in terms of its orientation towards calls for a relational framework in which i ts subject matter might be examined and explained.