Practice and the Human Sciences

Donald E. Polkinghorne is Emeritus Professor and Chair of Counseling Psychology at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Methodology for the Human Sciences: Systems of Inquiry and Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences, both also published by SUNY Press.

• Preface 1. INTRODUCTION The Technical-Judgment Practice of Controversy Understanding Practice 2. TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIFICATION Techne The Effect of Technology on CultureTechnology and Technical-Rational PracticeTechnical-Rational Practice Critique of the Technified Culture 3. PRACTICE AND CULTURE Two-Term Explanations of Practice Practice Theory Summary 4. THE REALMS OF PRACTICE Form and Flux The Realms of Practice The Practitioner The Human Sciences and Practical Knowing 5. TECHNE AND PHRONESIS The Fusion of HorizonsTechne (Science) versus Tuche (Luck) Plato's Science of Living Aristotle's Phronesis and Practical Action 6. EMBODIED REASONING Epstein's Experiential Thinking Lakoff and Johnson's Embodied RationalityGendlin's Experiencing Damasio's Embodied-Enactive Model Conclusion 7. REFLECTIVE UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTITIONER JUDGMENT Practice and the Background Reflective-Understanding Reasoning Conclusion 8. A CASE STUDY: PSYCHOTHERAPY The First Phase: 1890–1950 The Second Phase: 1950–1990 The Third Phase: 1990–the Present References Index