Scientism

[romansh]

Thanks minsocal

 

I'm not terribly familiar with these concepts and psychology in general.

 

But choosing Bowen at 'random':

Here is a description of particular aspect of Bowen therapy:

Bowen's multigenerational model goes beyond the view that the past influences the present, to the view that patterns of relating in the past continue in the present family system (Herz Brown, 1991). Hence the therapist uses questions to encourage clients to think about the connection between their present problem and the ways previous generations have dealt with similar relationship issues.

http://www.familysystemstraining.com/papers/bowen-illustration-and-critique.html

 

This to me reads as past patterns do affect the way individuals in families handle relationships. The therapist does get the individuals to be aware of past causes. Reads like reductionism to me.

 

Reductionism I think has been given a bad rap. It is a fundamental way of understanding how the universe ticks. There may be others - eg meditation. But if we ever want to communicate the logic of an idea, it has to be based in some form of reductionism.

 

Even your act of countering my position is a form of reductionism - I would argue.

[minsocal]

Thanks minsocal

 

I'm not terribly familiar with these concepts and psychology in general.

 

But choosing Bowen at 'random':

Here is a description of particular aspect of Bowen therapy:

Bowen's multigenerational model goes beyond the view that the past influences the present, to the view that patterns of relating in the past continue in the present family system (Herz Brown, 1991). Hence the therapist uses questions to encourage clients to think about the connection between their present problem and the ways previous generations have dealt with similar relationship issues.

http://www.familysys...d-critique.html

 

This to me reads as past patterns do affect the way individuals in families handle relationships. The therapist does get the individuals to be aware of past causes. Reads like reductionism to me.

 

Reductionism I think has been given a bad rap. It is a fundamental way of understanding how the universe ticks. There may be others - eg meditation. But if we ever want to communicate the logic of an idea, it has to be based in some form of reductionism.

 

Even your act of countering my position is a form of reductionism - I would argue.

 

Thank you. I am trained in Bowen Theory and it is based on the Gestalt Doctrine. Murray Bowan uses the phrase "non summatization of parts." That is the theory.

 

In your quote, Bowan is saying that we often mimic the only model available to us, the family system. That fits better into learning theory. The goal is to learn more adaptive responses appropriate to the individual. Sure, you could say it reduces to the only option the person had to learn. So what?

Edited July 9, 2012 by minsocal