This chapter presents Georges Politzer’s theoretical-philosophical psychology. First, a brief academic biography is given. Then, his critique of mainstream psychology is presented. Politzer dismissed the psychology of his day as abstract and formalistic, as it could not study concrete human reality in the first-person perspective and instead mimicked natural science, studying mental processes in the third-person perspective like they are things, reifying the spiritualist notion of inner life. Politzer instead advocated a concrete psychology that studies the “drama,” particular events as described by the person’s “story,” her first-person meaningful narration of parts of her life. Concrete psychology is a materialist psychology, situated in a Marxist understanding of economic reality. Politzer’s thoughts, although not so widespread, offer a solid critique of natural-scientific objectivist epistemology. They also predate Holzkamp’s psychology from the standpoint of the subject, narrative hermeneutics, narrative psychology, and the psychology of personhood.

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Georges Politzer

  • Konstantinos Kontis

摘要

This chapter presents Georges Politzer’s theoretical-philosophical psychology. First, a brief academic biography is given. Then, his critique of mainstream psychology is presented. Politzer dismissed the psychology of his day as abstract and formalistic, as it could not study concrete human reality in the first-person perspective and instead mimicked natural science, studying mental processes in the third-person perspective like they are things, reifying the spiritualist notion of inner life. Politzer instead advocated a concrete psychology that studies the “drama,” particular events as described by the person’s “story,” her first-person meaningful narration of parts of her life. Concrete psychology is a materialist psychology, situated in a Marxist understanding of economic reality. Politzer’s thoughts, although not so widespread, offer a solid critique of natural-scientific objectivist epistemology. They also predate Holzkamp’s psychology from the standpoint of the subject, narrative hermeneutics, narrative psychology, and the psychology of personhood.