Abstract

Aristotle's scientific legacy underlies much of what is currently considered mainstream psychology. Surprisingly, however, only a paucity of writings have elucidated this fact. To be sure, history of psychology texts register him as one of our intellectual ancestors, but unfortunately most psychologists appear to view Aristotle as an anachronism with little but the most indirect of influences upon modern theory and practice. The present issue of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is part of the effort begun by scholars such as Robinson to dispel this misconception. The six articles that follow not only show the continuing relevance of Aristotelian thinking, but they also employ Aristotelian conceptual tools to analyze and advance modern psychology still further. Each of the articles covers a unique aspect of Aristotle vis-a-vis psychology. Robinson delves into Aristotle's naturalism and ontology, and attempts to help readers find their way through some rather sticky theoretical issues for psychologists. Williams critically examines aspects of Aristotle's physics from a post-modernist's perspective. Silverstein, Howard, and Rychlak each discuss a different facet of Aristotle's teleology: Silverstein on developmental implications, Howard on philosophy of science ramifications, and Rychlak on cognitive considerations. Waterman then extends some of Aristotle's ethics through his empirical studies of happiness. Whereas the first four articles are primarily theoretical in nature, the final two demonstrate how theorizing compatible with Aristotle can be experimentally tested. 2012 APA, all rights reserved)