Customer Reviews

An Intellectual History of Psychology

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The rare psychology tome that doesn't mistake psychology's history for history in general! The learned Robinson can stand back enough to place the nascent "science" of psychology within the field of human meta-thought that started at least amongst the Greek philosophers. The book provides a cogent survey of developments in theories that are psychological in nature. The author demonstrates how many of the big deals amongst today's academic psychological concepts were anticipated long ago but forgottten when, I assume, liberal arts education and philosophy became passe. In so doing, he is able to distill from the fractured, specialized field of the current psychology scene what is vital, relevant, and productive. By using a historical context, he allows us to see the real progress of ideas instead of being distracted by the yipping of scientism's mutts. I have read earlier editions of this book twice, and plan to continue re-reading it periodically.

This book was used as a textbook in my history of psychology class. The author is brilliant as he focuses on the historical progression of psychological ideas and their philosophical basis.

Be warned, many students complained about the "difficult language" the author uses. This is not an "Idiot's Guide" and the language is not dumbed down. It requires a great deal of effort to understand because it is written for a scholarly audience. Not for the mildly curious, but for the serious scholar there is no better book.

Robinson is a wide-ranging, and brilliant scholar. And given his credentials (look them up!), he is something of an authority in the field of historical psychology. His writing style, along with his lecturing, is eloquent, and fast paced, which makes for an enjoyable experience.

There are, however, a few drawbacks with this work. For one, it is a little dated. Many scholarly debates have risen since it was last published. Some positions that were widely accepted in Robinson's day have been disproved or are now matters of intense debate. For example, Robinson says that Kant was deeply influenced by Reid. But after reading a number of articles on Reid for a recent paper, few (if any) scholars still hold to that view (See "Reid's Influence in Britain, Germany, France, and America" by Benjamin W. Redekop in The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Reid). I am by no means a "scholar," but I readily picked up on a handful of other similar occurrences in this work. For example, he claims that Locke holds to a "Newtonian Theory of the Mind." But according to the Cambridge Companion to Locke's Essay, this view is either exaggerated or groundless.

There are a number of other debates/corrections that developed after Robinson's publication, in which case he is excused. And even if these ideas were circulating in his time, Robinson wrote an overview of the history of psychology, and thus probably didn't see the need to go into many other interpretive positions.

The only other potential drawback off the top of my head has to do with Robinson's logical ordering of paragraphs and the content within those paragraphs. Overall, the book is well organize, but some might find his digressions and broad historical overviews annoying. Personally, I loved the digressions, connections, etc.

Overall, An Intellectual History of Psychology is a delightful and stimulating read. I have little interest in psychology but still enjoyed it; partially because he provides such an excellent philosophical, historical and (sometimes) political background to all the thinkers. Not to the mention the quality of writing and synthesis of other disciplines within this work (he interacts with philosophies of history, etc.). Any errors of structure or content are easily outweighed by the abundance of wisdom and wit that pours forth from this man. Its definitely more exciting than a mere textbook. Robinson himself seems just as brilliant and intriguing as the geniuses he writes about.

Daniel N. Robinson is acknowledged universally by scholars as quintessential authority on historical, philosophical antecedents of modern behavioral science. Professor Robinson presupposes readers have some knowledge of elementary philosophy and some exposure to psychology and probability theory.

Whereas his treatment may appear overly complex to some, the topic cannot be reduced to level of reading a novel. Those expecting an easy read will be disappointed.

Instead, advanced readers can expect a scholarly treatise.

I recommend this work highly.

Book was in perfect condition, and received promptly. The book itself is a great read. Might be a little deep with the philosophy, but the author does an excellent job of moving through an "intellectual" rather than a chronological history. Very interesting.

Very informative history of psychology and theories of knowledge. A great value for anyone interested not only in psychology but intellectual history in general. Well constructed, excellent in style, vast in scope.

This book is one of the worst psychology books I've ever encountered. It is extremely disorganized and unnecessarily verbose. Its coverage is highly selective and its treatment of topics is very biased. It is not at all self-contained and is almost deliberately obscure. I highly recommend the Hergenhahn textbook in its place.