E.G. Boring: Reflections on a Discipline Builder

Abstract

Edwin Garrigues Boring, once among the most respected and influential historians of psychology and a major force in the American profession, has recently come under heavy criticism as a doctrinaire positivist who impeded the development of important branches of the field. Yet, given the spectrum of opinion in his own time on the proper character of psychology, Boring's works show him to be a moderate, ecumenical "centrist" rather than a dogmatic extremist. The downward revision in assessments of Boring (accomplished, ironically, in part with some of his own intellectual constructs) seem to reflect a new constellation of views on the nature of psychological science.

Department

History; Business, Politics and Security Studies

Publication Date

1-1-1988

Journal Title

The American Journal of Psychology

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.2307/1423233

Document Type

Article

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