Six Meanings of the History of Science: The Case of Psychology

Abstract

History of psychology seems to be described in all decent textbooks of psychology. 1 Many scientifi c books and papers in any subject of psychology also provide some historical facts. But why is history described in so many books, which are written either to describe the current state of our science or to propose something new? Why do we need to know the facts of the past? I would say that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, history of psychology is not discussed but is just there, in the texts. It is provided, but not analyzed, not used for achieving some novel understanding.