Practice and the Human Sciences

Donald E. Polkinghorne

Description

Teachers, nurses, psychotherapists, and other practitioners of care are under pressure to substitute specific, prescribed techniques in place of using their own judgment. Donald E. Polkinghorne assembles the case for the return to judgment-based practice for the professions that engage in direct person-to-person interaction with those they serve. Set in the larger context of the technification of society, Polkinghorne draws from Weber, Heidegger, Ihde, Bourdieu, de Certeau, and other philosophers to trace the advancing power of the technological worldview in Western culture and uses Aristotle, Dewey, and Gadamer to help make his case that we should be doing things very differently.
Preface

1. INTRODUCTION

The Technical-Judgment Practice of Controversy
Understanding Practice

2. TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIFICATION

Techne
The Effect of Technology on Culture
Technology and Technical-Rational Practice
Technical-Rational Practice
Critique of the Technified Culture

3. PRACTICE AND CULTURE

Two-Term Explanations of Practice
Practice Theory
Summary

4. THE REALMS OF PRACTICE

Form and Flux
The Realms of Practice
The Practitioner
The Human Sciences and Practical Knowing

5. TECHNE AND PHRONESIS

The Fusion of Horizons
Techne (Science) versus Tuche (Luck)
Plato's Science of Living
Aristotle's Phronesis and Practical Action

6. EMBODIED REASONING

Epstein's Experiential Thinking
Lakoff and Johnson's Embodied Rationality
Gendlin's Experiencing
Damasio's Embodied-Enactive Model
Conclusion

7. REFLECTIVE UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTITIONER JUDGMENT

Practice and the Background
Reflective-Understanding Reasoning
Conclusion

8. A CASE STUDY: PSYCHOTHERAPY

The First Phase: 1890–1950
The Second Phase: 1950–1990
The Third Phase: 1990–the Present

References

Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791484548
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

practice and the human sciences

the case for a judgmentbased practice of care

donald e. polkinghorne

P RACTICE AND THE H UMAN S CIENCES

SUNY series in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Lenore Langsdorf, editor

P RACTICE AND THE H UMAN S CIENCES

The Case for a JudgmentBased Practice of Care



Donald E. Polkinghorne

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Table 6.1 from: Epstein, S. (1991). Cognitive-experiential self-theory: An integrative theory of self. In R. C. Curtis (Ed.),The relational self: Theoretical convergences in psy choanalysis and social psychology.New York: Gilford. Used by permission.

I want to thank The James Irvine Foundation, which provided support for the writing of this book as part of a larger project,Designing and Implementing a Diversity Score card to Improve Institutional Effectiveness for Underserved Minority Students.The find- ings and opinions written here are solely mine and do not reflect the position or pri- orities of the foundation.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2004 State University of New York

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For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Polkinghorne, Donald, 1936– Practice and the human sciences : the case for a judgment-based practice of care / by Donald E. Polkinghorne. p. cm. — (SUNY series in the philosophy of the social sciences) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6199-8 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6200-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Human services—Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series.

HV31.P67 2004 361'.001—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2004041705

For Judy, the love of my life, whose support, patience, and care were essential to the writing of this book. 

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Preface

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C O N T E N T S

I NTRODUCTION The Technical-Judgment Practice Controversy Understanding Practice

T ECHNOLOGY AND T ECHNIFICATION Techne The Effect ofTechnologyon Culture Technology andTechnical-Rational Practice Technical-Rational Practice Critique of the Technified Culture

P RACTICE AND C ULTURE Two-Term Explanations of Practice Practice Theory Summary

T HE R EALMS OF P RACTICE Form and Flux The Realms of Practice The Practitioner The Human Sciences and Practical Knowing

T ECHNEAND P HRONESIS The Fusion of Horizons Techne(Science) versusTuche(Luck) Plato’s Science of Living Aristotle’sPhronesisand Practical Action

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9 10 12 16 27 35

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Contents

E MBODIED R EASONING Epstein’s Experiential Thinking Lakoff and Johnson’s Embodied Rationality Gendlin’s Experiencing Damasio’s Embodied-Enactive Model Conclusion

R EFLECTIVE U NDERSTANDING AND P RACTITIONER J UDGMENT Practice and the Background Reflective-Understanding Reasoning Conclusion

A

AS C E S TUDY : P SYCHOTHERAPY The First Phase: 1890–1950 The Second Phase: 1950–1990 The Third Phase: 1990–the Present

References

Index

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151 152 163 174

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P R E F A C E

I AM A FACULTY MEMBER in a doctoral counseling psychology program. The primary purpose of the program is to prepare our students to become practitioners of psychotherapy. This preparation involves assisting students to gain a deeper and broader understanding of human existence. We want the students to be sensitive to and respectful of the individual differences of the people they will serve. Our courses provide the students with psychol- ogy’s conceptual repertoire. The students are to develop a conceptual array through which they can notice and understand the nuances in client actions and statements and from which they can adjust their responses. They are introduced to a variety of therapeutic theories; however, they are expected to be open to learning from their clients and not to impose on them a prede- termined theoretical position. Our program adheres to the Boulder science- practice model. But our view is that this is a balanced model in which research learns from practice and practice learns from research. Students receive research training in both quantitative and qualitative methods and in the philosophy of science. They are instructed about the strengths and weaknesses of the various kinds of research and the necessity to monitor the effect of their actions on their clients and their clients’ actions on them. We teach that psychotherapy is a historical process during which both they and their clients undergo change. In recent years, the expectations for the training of psychotherapists have changed. We are now expected to produce students who are technically profi- cient in administering at least four manualized treatments that are on the list of empirically supported (or validated) therapy sequences. It is implied that using a nonempirically supported therapy is unethical. The new 2002 Amer- ican Psychological Association’s Code of Ethics directs psychologists to tell their “patients” when they plan to use a “new” or “experimental” treatment for which generally recognized techniques and procedures have not been estab- lished; that is, if they are going to use an experimental therapy that does not have empirically demonstrated efficacy.

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