Theoretical Plurality and Unity in Psychology

Abstract

The question of unity and diversity in science and psychology is a question that seems to resist final solution. Part of the problem is that the analysis is usually not pushed to the level where the ambiguity of the meaning of unity shows up. Unity can mean “singleness” in the sense of absence of difference or “singleness” in the sense of integrating diverse parts under one idea (concinnity). When scientists object to unity in science or psychology they imply “absence of difference” and when scientists argue for it they imply unity in the sense of concinnity. Thus the two senses of unity can be rendered compatible and the position is taken that unity in the sense of concinnity is desired and necessary for psychology to be a mature science.