On methodological distinctions - Nomothetic psychology, or historical understanding

Journal/Book: Theor Psychol. 1998; 8: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Sage Publications Inc. 39-57.

Abstract: What follows is a critical review of Windelband's methodological distinction between nomothetic and idiographic thought as based on Lamiell's translation of Windelband's (1894/1998) 'History and Natural Science'. This is followed by a critique of Lamiell's (1998) interpretation of the distinction and its implications for his proposed nomothetic psychology of personality. In the course of evaluating this proposal, Windelband's distinction is placed within the broader context of the neo-Kantian understanding of science, history and philosophy, and briefly contrasted with Dilthey's epistemological distinction between the human and natural sciences which takes psychology, and our understanding of individual persons, as belonging to the human, which is to say, historical sciences.

Note: Article Mos LP, Univ Alberta, Dept Psychol, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, CANADA

Keyword(s): historical understanding; idiographic; methodology; value

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