
The Winter issue of Revista de Historia de la Psicología is now online. Full titles, authors, and English abstracts follow below:
“Not the Absolute, but the Ultimate: William James before the Mystery of God. [No el absoluto, sino el último: William James frente al misterio de Dios],” José María Gondra (Article written in English). Abstract:
After a long inquiry into the fields of psychology, psychopathology, religious experience, mysticism and philosophy, William James arrived at a pantheistic worldview in which God was no longer the Absolute knower of the idealistic philosophy, but an immanent closely linked to human beings and the end of the process of world unification. This article follows William James’s evolution from his beginnings as a psychologist and founder of American psychology to his final solution to the philosophical problem of the One and the Many through a pluralistic pantheism. I examine his notions of ‘stream of consciousness’, feelings of relation and emotions, as well as the super-human consciousness he found in religious mystical states; I then review his doctrine of indeterminism and his overcoming of the logic of identity by a vision of the world as a federal Republic in which Deity is construed as finite, much greater than human beings but nonetheless in need of their cooperation. In the conclusions, I analyze this view of the Divinity in its intellectual and social context as well as the result of William James’s personal experience as a psychologist in search of a vision of the world in which God had a more intimate relationship with humans and a leading role in promoting universal good.
“Psicología Profunda y Género Oracular: una Aproximación al I Ching en el Centro Eranos. [Deep Psychology and Oracular Genre: An Approach to the I Ching at the Eranos Center],” Cruz Mañas Peñalver y José Carlos Loredo (Article written in Spanish). Abstract:
This paper aims to be a microhistorical approach to a seemingly secondary and not well-known aspect of a such singular cultural phenomenon as Eranos, the East-West research center founded in 1933 in Ascona by Olga Froebe-Kapteyn and Carl Gustav Jung. While the contributions of outstanding XX Century specialists – mostly mythologists, psychologists and historians of religions – are known, little is heard about a subtle thread running through the life of Eranos: the practice of the I Ching, the ancient Chinese oracle, as a source of inspiration and guidance, sometimes in a covert and private way, at other times openly and publicly. Using primary sources, we will examine the use of the oracle at Eranos from the 1930s to the present.
“Modelos Gráficos y Redes en Psicología. [Graph Models and Networks in Psychology],” Ana María Ruiz-Ruano García y Jorge López Puga (Article written in Spanish). Abstract:
Network analysis is not a new methodology in psychology. However, network analysis-based methodologies are more and more common nowadays. Here we provide a historical review of two areas in which network analysis has been critical for psychology: causal cognition and psychopathology. We briefly review key points in the history of philosophy contributing to progresses in the scientific research about causal cognition. We show how those progresses evolved to considering Bayes networks as normative models to understand causal cognition. We also provide some notes about how network analysis allows to understand mental disorders. Finally, some future paths development regarding the usage of graphs models are suggested as well as some problems to avoid in the close future into this line of research.
“Psicología en Tiempos de Posguerra: la Revista de Filosofía del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (1942-1969). [Post-War Psychology: the Revista de Filosofía of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (1942-1969)],” Javier Bandrés (Article written in Spanish). Abstract:
The Revista de Filosofía of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) was founded in 1942 within the Luis Vives Institute of Philosophy. Its promoters were, among others, Manuel Barbado, Juan Zaragüeta, Manuel Mindán and Antonio Álvarez de Linera. From the beginning, the journal paid special attention to Psychology, both scientific and philosophical. News about scientific congresses and meetings of Psychology, as well as bibliographic bulletins on the subject, were regularly published. Articles also appeared on topics such as the History of Psychology, Differential Psychology, Philosophical Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Social Psychology or Psychology of religion, among others. Revista de Filosofía is an example of how, apart from the official speeches of the time, some people in charge of the new scientific organizations tried to develop quality intellectual projects.
“The History of Mental Health in Senegal: Healthcare and Educational infrastructures. [Historia de la Salud Mental en Senegal: Infrastructuras sanitarias y educativas],” Aida Sylla, Ndèye-Dialé Ndiaye-Ndongo, Momar Camara, Sokhna Seck & Papa Lamine Faye (Article written in English). Abstract:
In this article, the authors review the different stages of the establishment of mental health in Senegal. They take over the installation of care structures and the various training courses that take place in the mental field. This process began with colonization and continued after independence. The article also insists on a plea for more importance to be given to mental health in Senegal.