Toward a psychology of knowledge. 3. Speculations regarding philosophical correlates of Rorschach movement responses.

Abstract

James says the history of philosophy is largely the history of a certain clash of temperaments. Boring suspects that a methodological difference he finds among psychologists stems from temperamental differences—but he leaves such differences largely “unreduced.” Murphy speaks of the “basic temperamental or emotional incompatibility of the promachine and antimachine theorists.” Following their lead, the present paper asks whether anything would be different about the history of Western thought, including the theorizing of contemporary scholars and scientists, if nobody to this moment had produced the equivalent of a Rorschach movement response. The paper's answer involves (1) suggesting differences between movement and all other Rorschach response dimensions, (2) illustrating the significance of these suggested differences, (3) applying the foregoing to theorizing in scientific psychology, and (4) suggesting commonality among the intellectual controversies of ancient and contemporary thinkers.