Philosophy of Psychology

Psychology is one of the axiological branches of science. In the light of the linguistic and activity turns in philosophy, it has become clear that every branch of science deals with both mentality and language. What is the special feature of psychology? It consists in the improvement of people, all sorts of attributes, in particular traits of character, modes of behaviour, speech and thinking. The emphasis is on individuals rather than groups of people. From this point of view, it can be stated that psychology has a personality focus. The principles of psychological theory change from one situation to another, but invariably they express an optimization either of individual psychological concepts or of their combinations. It is this circumstance that most characterises the uniqueness of psychology as a science.

Let us now turn to the heterogeneity of psychology. It is characterised by different orientations:

Psychoanalysis is the theory first developed by S. Freud, according to which all mental processes are determined by the unconscious. In this context, special attention is paid to the developmental phases of sexuality.

Criticism: Psychoanalysis is not without its strengths. These include the relevance of the sexual sphere and the development of certain therapies for neuroses. But it has the disadvantage of proclaiming the elusiveness of the unconscious. This kind of phenomena is not recognised in science. The unconscious, according to the canons of science, necessarily becomes conscious. The Freudian unconscious, on the other hand, is declared inaccessible.

Behaviourism is the theory according to which the method of psychology is to study people's behaviour as reactions to situational attributes. In this regard, it is not necessary to study the mentality of people, it is sufficient to be limited to stimulus-response relationships.

Criticism. The main mistake the behaviourists made was in their hasty dismissal of the study of human consciousness. They believed that whatever the potential of consciousness is, it somehow manifests itself in people's actions. In fact, the behaviorists, by absolutizing the experimental stage, wanted to dispense with the predictive stage with its deductive method. Their approach was clearly insufficient for the study of higher human mental functions.

Gestalt psychology. The main point of the theory in question is that the interpretation of psychological phenomena must be carried out through gestalts - holistic entities that determine the status of the parts of which it is composed. For example, stimuli that are side by side or similar to one another are perceived together; if the outline of a figure is incomplete, it is mentally constructed into a whole.

Criticism. People do indeed often operate with holistic images. But they do not necessarily move from the whole to the parts. It is just as common to go from the parts to the whole. It has to be said that the Gestaltists have not succeeded in revealing in detail the ways in which the concepts of psychological theory are managed.

Humanistic psychology is the theory emphasising the values of personal self-actualisation, creativity, love, freedom and responsibility. Humanistic psychology was seen as a third force capable of surpassing the shortcomings of psychoanalysis and behaviourism.

Criticism. The values of humanistic psychologists are not specific enough; they lack psychological specificity. Critics of humanistic psychology have repeatedly accused it of insufficient adherence to scientific ideals.

Cognitive psychology — is a set of theories of thinking, language, memory, perception, creativity and decision-making. The main focus is on the step-by-step processing of psychological information as a necessary stage in the resolution of those problematic situations faced by an individual. Each individual thinks and acts in a specific way in a given situation.

Criticism. Today, cognitive psychology holds a leading position. Nevertheless, cognitive psychology faces significant challenges.