Abstract
Chapter 8 described the dialectic between humanism and scientific modernism. Rollo May’s quote captures humanist’s concerns that a scientific modernist, objective analyses of human behavior fail to capture human capacities for self-reflection and transformation. These capacities include self-awareness, intentionality,, and agency, all emergent properties that cannot be reduced to component parts or observed from outside perspectives. Phenomenological and experiential theorists agree to this extent. Their dialectic revolves around the question, “Do clients need active assistance in the process of self-discovery or do they only need an empathic listener who strives to understand their inner world?”
… I take very seriously the dehumanizing dangers in our tendency in modern science to make man over into the image of the machine, into the image of the techniques by which we study him.
Rollo May (1960, p. 4)
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Videos
Carlson, J., & Kjos, D. (2000a). Existential-humanistic therapy with Dr. James Bugental. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Carlson, J., & Kjos, D. (2000b). Person centered therapy with Dr. Natalie Rogers. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
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Websites
Center for the Person Homepage: http://www.centerfortheperson.org/.
Existential Therapy Homepage: http://www.existential-therapy.com/Index.htm.
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Fromme, D.K. (2011). Humanism: Phenomenological Approaches. In: Systems of Psychotherapy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7308-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7308-5_9
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