Paul Hoyningen-Huene’s Idea of Systematicity of Science and the Theoretical Crisis in Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of the theoretical crisis in psychology from the perspective of the concept of systematicity of science proposed by German philosopher Paul Hoyningen-Huene. In the first part, I analyse the main assumptions of the idea of systematicity and outline the problem of theoretical crisis in psychology. According to the assumptions, the crisis in psychology may be related to problems with systematicity in some dimensions of psychology. Finally, I consider whether in psychology, basing explanations on the mechanistic strategy of explanation, which is an increasingly popular strategy in the philosophy of social sciences, could strengthen the systematic nature of psychology in the indicated dimensions.