Document Type
Editorial
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Critiques of materialism within humanistic and transpersonal psychology now target an outdated ontology, since materialism has given way to physicalism. Drawing on Strawson’s argument that a physicalism claiming to encompass all facts must account for consciousness, this essay proposes a pragmatic physicalism that must also account for lived experience. It traces the marginalization of experience to Galileo’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities, carried forward by Descartes and Newton and echoed in reductive accounts of mind as “what the brain does.” A pragmatic physicalism, applied with integrity through mixed methods and inclusive of a complete range of human experiences, capacities, and global states, would allow transpersonal psychology to pursue its full range of topics within mainstream science and to contribute to more effective mental health care.
Recommended Citation
Hartelius, Glenn, "Pragmatic Steps Toward an Empirical Psychology of the Whole Person (Editor's Introduction)" (2025). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive. 124.
https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/advance-archive/124
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