Sigmund Koch--philosophically speaking.

Abstract

Sigmund Koch's legacy is not merely a record of robust criticism aimed at (now mostly failed) dominant perspectives in psychology. Rather, his prescient and tutored thought captured particular habits of mind and institutionalized modes of inquiry likely to retard progress in psychology indefinitely. In important respects, it is Koch's critical assessments of his own earlier commitments and enthusiasms that exemplify his project for any "scientific" psychology worth having. It is in these self-criticisms that Koch discloses both the source and the costs of trimming and reducing reality merely to prosecute research of the approved type. Furthermore, it is in these self-criticisms that Koch exemplifies the integrity and disinterested judiciousness so characteristic of science at its best.