Phenomenology, Language and the Social Sciences

This book looks at two 'revolutions' in philosophy - phenomenology and conceptual analysis which have been influential in sociology and psychology. It discusses humanistic psychiatry and sociological approaches to the specific area of mental illness, which counter the ultimately reductionist implications of Freudian psycho-analytic theory. The book, originally published in 1973, concludes by stating the broad underlying themes of the two forms of humanistic philosophy and indicating how they relate to the problems of theory and method in sociology.

Maurice Roche

Introduction Part 1: The Philosophical Schools 1. Phenomenology 2. Conceptual Analysis 3. Logical Empiricism and the Reductionist Idea of Psycho-social Science Part 2: The Relationship of the Schools to Psychology and Sociology 4. Behaviourist Psychology 5. Gestalt Psychology 6. Freudian Psychology 7. Humanistic Psychiatry and Sociology 8. Weber's Sociology 9. Conclusion: Humanistic Philosophy and Sociology