Positivism needs further scrutiny. In recent years, there has been little consensus about the nature of positivism or about the precise forms its influence has taken on psychological theory. One symptom of this lack of clarity has been that ostensibly anti-positivist psychological theorizing is frequently found reproducing one or more distinctively positivist assumptions. The contributors to this volume believe that, while virtually every theoretically engaged psychologist today openly rejects positivism in both its 19th century and 20th century forms, it is indispensable to look at positivism from all sides and to appraise its role and importance in order to make possible the further development of psychological theory.

In this volume, Klaus Holzkamp and his colleagues provide a coherent and broadly elaborated description of Critical Psychology--a theory of the evolution of the social constitution of human consciousness and forms of mental activity--which has been in development in Germany for more than twenty years and constitutes a radical critique and reconstruction of scientific psychology from a dialectical and historical- materialistic point of view. Its aim is to provide a firmer foundation than presently exists for a psychology that is methodologically sound, practically relevant, and theoretically determinate. In this volume, Tolman and Maiers coordinate the contributions of several German psychologists led by Klaus Holzkamp and his colleagues. Infused with theoretical sophistication, the papers detail the implications of Critical Psychology on several fronts: a theory of emotions, forms of psychotherapy, the impact of automation in the workplace, and a theory of learning. Chapters build upon each other, going from general issues of methodology to more specific issues. Critical Psychology: Contributions to an Historical Science of the Subject is the first book to make Critical Psychology accessible to an English-speaking audience. As a central force in the exploration of activity theory, this work will be of interest to cognitive psychologists, developmental psychologists, social anthropologists, and educators.

In this volume, Klaus Holzkamp and his colleagues provide a coherent and broadly elaborated description of Critical Psychology--a theory of the evolution of the social constitution of human consciousness and forms of mental activity--which has been in development in Germany for more than twenty years and constitutes a radical critique and reconstruction of scientific psychology from a dialectical and historical- materialistic point of view. Its aim is to provide a firmer foundation than presently exists for a psychology that is methodologically sound, practically relevant, and theoretically determinate. In this volume, Tolman and Maiers coordinate the contributions of several German psychologists led by Klaus Holzkamp and his colleagues. Infused with theoretical sophistication, the papers detail the implications of Critical Psychology on several fronts: a theory of emotions, forms of psychotherapy, the impact of automation in the workplace, and a theory of learning. Chapters build upon each other, going from general issues of methodology to more specific issues. Critical Psychology: Contributions to an Historical Science of the Subject is the first book to make Critical Psychology accessible to an English-speaking audience. As a central force in the exploration of activity theory, this work will be of interest to cognitive psychologists, developmental psychologists, social anthropologists, and educators.