Abstract
This chapter presents a translation of a text published by William Stern in 1930 as a chapter in a book he authored under the title ‘Studies in the Science of Persons.’ Regarding meaning, Stern distinguishes between the personal meanings for an individual that various entities, occurrences, circumstances, etc. have, and the transpersonal meanings of an individual as viewed from the perspective of other individuals. In either case, the discernment of meaning requires interpretation, and Stern devotes the largest segment of this chapter to a discussion of various aspects of and challenges presented by the interpretive process. The discussion leaves no doubt of Stern’s conviction that qualitative methods are essential to the conduct of a genuinely personalistic psychology.
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Notes
- 1.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 1 in the original text: [What is called in the text ‘sense of self’ or ‘autochthones sense unity’ is identified and elaborated as ‘self value’ in Philosophy of Value. In that work, the attempt has been made to construct a hierarchical system of self values, and to assign the individual person, who is self, his place within this system. All problems having to do with material sense and meaning must be left out of consideration here.]
- 2.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 2 in the original text: [This distinction is directly analogous to that drawn in the Philosophy of Value between utility value and radiance value. Many of the ideas thoroughly developed in that work can be carried over directly from axiological to epistemological considerations and, with that, be applied to the problem of significance. See especially Philosophy of Value, p. 44, pp. 126ff., and pp. 295 ff.]
- 3.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 3 in the original text: [Regarding this personalistic conception of the problem of expression see also Philosophy of Value, Chapter 7, continuing from p. 147.]
- 4.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 4 in the original text: [As is well-known, Kant in his Critique of Judgment identified this dualism as one of those pertaining to the constitutive principle of knowledge, the principle of regulative judgment.]
- 5.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 5 in the original text: [See my lecture ‘Personality Research and Methods of Testing.’ Jahrbuch der Charakterologie, 1929, 6, 61–72. (In French: Journal de Psychologie, 1928, 25, 5–18.]
Reference
Stern, W. (1930). Studien zur Personwissenschaft. Erster Teil:Personalistik als Wissenschaft [Studies in the science of persons. Part One: Personalistics as science]. Leipzig: Barth.
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Lamiell, J.T. (2021). Meaning and Interpretation. In: Uncovering Critical Personalism. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67734-3_9
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