History of Psychology, a periodical of division 26 of the APA, may be of interest to some AHP readers. In “Mind’s Historicity: Its hidden history,” Noemi Pizarroso discusses how a tradition in French psychology that has rarely been used outside of the French context could be of use in light of the current pleas for a historicity. The author hopes to introduce this approach to the English speaking reader through the work of Ignace Meyerson, the architect of the approach. The full abstract follows:
“Mind’s Historicity: Its hidden history”
Whereas psychological research can hardly accept the idea of a changing psychological architecture, mind’s historicity seems to be commonplace among historians of psychology, at least in recent decades. Attempts to promote a convergence between psychology and history have always existed, though mainly in the margins of both disciplines. Among these attempts, there is a tradition in French psychology that remains quite marginal even to the history of the discipline and is practically unknown out of the French context. Our goal is to introduce this approach, through the work of its main architect, Ignace Meyerson, to an English speaking reader, in the light of current pleas for historicity. Developed within the core of the discipline of psychology, though in dialogue with many others disciplines, Meyerson’s historical psychology appears to be more ambitious than other attempts, as it aims at studying psychological activity itself, beyond the history of its conceptualizations. It is concerned not with the analysis of fragmented, isolated, and mechanistic behaviors or cognitive process, but with the study of mind in its functioning through the multiple and changing fields of experience where human beings are involved.