|
Response paper to Danziger, Chapters 1, 2 & 3 No response paper is
required for the week of October 14.
However, it is expected that you will have completed reading the first
three chapters of Danziger’s Naming the Mind: How Psychology Found its Language for the
Tuesday class. Below are some
questions that we will discuss in class.
Discussion Questions 1. For each chapter, identify a quotation of
no more than a few sentences that you feel captures
the most important point Danziger makes in the
chapter. 2. Distinguish among the
following terms as used by Danziger – history,
historiography, historicity. 3. Give some examples of what you think Danziger is referring to when he says that in the modern
world we experience life in “psychological terms”. 4. Danziger’s book
focuses on the development of several psychological “categories”. Make a list of
the names of each of the categories and write down a brief definition or your
primary associations to these names.
Based on what you have read so far, how do you think Danziger distinguishes these categories from other
concepts that occur in psychology? He
says that these categories occur in “discursive formations.” What are some examples of specific
discursive formations? 5. Slife (p. 197)
says that behavioural science tradition “includes the assumption that truth
can be found through the application of method”; however, he goes on to
suggest that “prior to any method is an assumptive understanding of what is
true.” Elaborate how Danziger’s work on psychology’s
categories relate to Slife’s comments? 6. What are some examples of what Danziger means by “psychological
self-objectification”? What would life
be like in a time/place where people did not have this capability? 7. Summarize how the ancient view of
reason/rationality differs from the modern view. In particular what does it mean to say that
at one time reason was conceptualized as having “motivational attributes” (p.
31)? 8. Give some examples of the kind of phenomena
that Danziger has in mind when he speaks of reason
as “instrumental”. He seems to suggest
that as reason became more “instrumentalized” the
role of human agency disappeared. Does
this suggestion contradict the common notion of “instrumental” as finding the
best way to do something? 9. Draw a diagram tracing the major steps described
by Danziger in the evolution of the concepts of “reason”
and “the passions” from ancient times through their resolution into the
categories of “motivation” and “emotion”. |