토론:칼 포퍼

칼 포퍼의 박사 학위

칼 포퍼가 철학 박사 학위를 받은 것이지 심리학 박사 학위를 받은 것인지에 대해 문헌 상의 충돌이 있기에, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Karl Popper 항목의 저자인 Stephen Thornton에게 질문을 해봤습니다. 그에게서 온 답변은 아래와 같습니다.

The question which you pose is an important one; though the answer is not quite as straightforward as one might wish.

Popper did indeed undertake his doctoral research with the department of psychology at the University of Vienna the under the supervision of Karl Bühler, who, with Otto Külpe, was one of the founder members of the Würzburg school of psychology. But his topic was the methodological problem of cognitive psychology, essentially a philosophical issue. He received his PhD 1928, in which he sought – against some prominent thinkers of the Würzburg school such as Bühler – to separate logical/epistemological approaches to scientific methodology from psychological ones, contending that the former alone could yield objectivity -- he later considered that Thomas Kuhn’s philosophy of science was effectively a revival of that particular form of psychologism.

This brought his thought into line with that of such ‘analytic’ philosophers as Frege and Russell as well as that of many members of the Vienna Circle and led him to effectively abandon psychology for philosophy of science.

It is for this reason that some biographies of Popper state that his PhD was in psychology, while others state that it was in philosophy.

Your question has led me to conclude that this should be made clear in my entry on Popper in the Stanford; accordingly, I will undertake to do that when I next revise it.

Very Sincerely,

Dr Stephen Thornton

결론은 심리학과에서 박사 학위를 받긴 했지만 그의 박사 학위 논문의 주제는 철학에 가깝다는 것입니다. 참고로 그의 박사 학위 논문 제목은 "인지심리학의 방법론적 문제"였습니다.