Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
This paper examines how Abraham Maslow’s concern with the pervasive intellectual and cultural influence of scientism shaped his philosophy of science and anticipated contemporary discourse on the nature of scientism. Although he never articulated a thorough, formal, or systematic philosophy of science, Maslow’s conception of science’s nature and scope is evident through the course of his work, and it was shaped by his concern with the emerging influence of scientism. The prominent intellectual status science has enjoyed since the Enlightenment has made scientism a powerful influence on postmodern intellectual and popular culture that is currently the subject of a wide literature sometimes supporting, but often critiquing, the scientistic worldview. Exploring Maslow’s significant but largely unexamined concern with scientism in his later work (a) reveals that Maslow’s prescient ideas about scientism anticipated, and add an integral voice to, this current critique, (b) highlights the importance of his largely unacknowledged Psychology of Science along these lines, (c) clarifies often-overlooked themes that, though expressed unsystematically and sporadically throughout his later work, were all foundational to his mature philosophy of science, and (d) illustrates how his philosophy of science may be best understood as a critical response to the pervasive influence of scientism in psychology, the social sciences, and humanistic thought.
Recommended Citation
Maslow’s Hammer: The problem of scientism and the philosophy of science in Maslow’s later work
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