History and Theory: Introduction

Abstract

History & Theory? -- Well, of course, history and theory! After all, it seems only reasonable to assume that as a discipline develops in time it produces theory, and in this process it cannot but produce history as well. Therefore, the reader might well wonder why have a volume on history and theory? -- what could possibly be the problem? However, in our view the history and theory pair does indeed entail a problem and, what is more, a problem of increasing magnitude. The process we have in mind emerged sometime in the seventies and its starting point could be summarised conveniently as Kuhn. It would be no exaggeration to say that once the paradigm concept in the sense of a disciplinary matrix had drawn the attention of the behavioral and social sciences, positivism, with its almost exclusive theory-orientation, declined dramatically. Of course, there remain other voices to be heard, such as Sneed and Stegmüller’s “structuralist” approach to the rational reconstruction of scientific theory (e.g., Tögel’s, this volume) and also, but less conspicuously, Staats’s neo-positivistic fling at “Unified Psychology” (e.g., Rappard, this volume). Nevertheless, looking back at the past twenty years or so, it would not be easy to escape the conclusion that by and large theory has lost while history has gained in popularity and appeal. And this understates the matter.