7 - Restoration

Summary

Some psychologists who would return the soul to psychology sought an integration with theology. The soul, especially in pastoral settings, had a place. Other psychologists developed in various ways an empirical psychology with a Thomistic philosophical foundation. Moore and Arnold conducted empirical research as well, making important contributions in factor analysis and cognition (Moore) and appraisal theory in emotions (Arnold). Their message was that a concept of soul grounded empirical research. Strasser discussed the soul by bridging Thomistic with Husserlian thought. Critical of the Neoscholastic view that empirical studies rest on metaphysical foundations, Strasser found more complex relations between the empirical and the metaphysical in psychology. The soul is the event whereby phenomena show themselves. Metaphysical psychology studies this act of illumination (interiority), and empirical psychology studies interiority as it externalizes itself in “quasi-objects.” Empirical psychology, with its emphasis on becoming, considers the soul as it objectifies itself in acts.