THE DEMARCATION PROBLEM. SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, AND PSYCHOTHERAP

Abstract

The controversy over the scientific nature of psychology necessarily has to do with the idea of science and the criteria that demarcate it. Different philosophical ideas about science are reviewed with their respective demarcation criteria, and the plurality of the sciences—which are not reducible to each other—is supported. Psychology is also conceived as a plural science, in tension between the natural and human sciences, and in which historical development has not yet led to theoretical or methodological monism. This plurality is the source of the difficulty in developing a demarcation criterion for both psychology and psychotherapy. Finally, the problems in establishing the demarcation criteria for psychology and psychotherapy are analyzed, and the main aspects that must be taken into account when constructing them are proposed.

Keywords

• demarcation problem
• philosophy of science
• psychology
• psychotherapy