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Kyoko Murakami, Jim Cresswell, Tetsuya Kono, and Tania Zittoun (Eds.)
Captus University Publications,
ISBN
978-1-55322-392-4
(2019)
“The Ethos of Theorizing” is the theme of the 2017 International Society for Theoretical Psychology (ISTP) Conference held at Rikkyo University, Tokyo Japan; titled with the conference theme, The Ethos of Theorizing is the collection of peer-reviewed papers presented in the conference. The papers included in this collection examine the ethical dimension of psychology both as subject matter and as discipline. They reflect the idea that theorizing, including the epistemological and ontological concepts, ought not just to be something abstract and detached but can be deeply embedded in and intertwined with ethical and normative considerations. Theorizing is a practice that engages theoretical psychologists in a critical examination of knowledge production. But doing “good” theory is also about taking responsibility for the implications and effects of theory, examining the relevance of theory to real world issues, building new communities, re-reading the history of the discipline, and — as this volume amply illustrates — challenging and critiquing the existing status quo. Also aims at building bridges, The Ethos of Theorizing creates connections between different geographical locations, different temporalities (the past and the present), as well as the diversity of theoretical commitments at play within the community of theoretical psychology. This book brings together unique thoughts by two keynote speakers and twenty-four authors, expressing a diversity of themes and topics in theoretical psychology, philosophy, history of science, including phenomenology and related practice traditions. This diversity from the Tokyo conference elucidates the variety of ways in which the critical ethos of theorizing resonates within the ISTP community. The book’s highlights are two-fold. First, it showcases established and emerging scholars in Japan, giving their work the international visibility it deserves. Second, it offers an important reminder that the boundaries between theoretical psychology and other fields of knowledge production are blurred and in flux. Work within theoretical psychology has long tended towards transdisciplinarity and profits from engagements not just with empirical and applied psychology, but also with neighbouring disciplines within the natural and social sciences and the humanities. This means that theoretical psychology is constantly evolving. To continue making a mark in the discipline of psychology and its related fields, the ISTP community aims to remain open to ideas and perspectives that may otherwise be dismissed and marginalized. Fringe issues do matter in order to expand and create new synergies, and for constant innovation in theoretical psychology.
PREFACE
Kyoko Murakami is the lead editor for the current proceedings. She was an Associate
Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She
received a PhD in Psychology at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. Her research
involves examining language use and social relations configured and reconfigured in social
and cultural practices. It draws on discourse analysis, discursive psychology and cultural
psychology and related areas in the social sciences. The topics of her recent publications
include the discursive psychology of remembering and reconciliation (2012), an ethnographic
study of battlefield and prison camp pilgrimages by British veterans (2014, 2016, 2017) and
family reminiscence as memory practice (2016). With her educational research colleagues,
Dr. Murakami explores dialogic spaces in both formal and non-formal education settings
(forthcoming)—Dialogic Pedagogy (2016), research projects on group work in higher
education and the experiences of international students in the internationalisation initiative of
a Danish university. She is an editorial board member of the journal, Culture &
Psychology. She is the leading editor for the ISTP2017 proceedings. James (Jim) Cresswell’s research interests draw on many sources ranging from cultural
psychology to cognitive science and literary theory. In the fall of 2017, his book on the
challenge of studying religion came out under the title ‘Culture and the Cognitive Science of
Religion’. He has been part of several community-based research projects that have been
funded by various parties. These projects involve topics such as acculturation, partnership
development, refugee well-being, and poverty reduction. One area of ongoing research is
developing theory about the relationship between mind and culture, which can lead to exciting
reconsideration of psychology as an art as much as a science. He serves as an editor for
Dialogic Pedagogy Journal and as an Associate Editor for Theory and Psychology.
Additionally, he serves as the treasurer for ISTP and the current chair of the Canadian
Psychological Association’s section for the History and Philosophy of Psychology. He works
at Ambrose University (Calgary, Canada) and has a deep commitment to education and
enhancing the student experience. Tetsuya Kono is a Professor at the Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan. His research interests
include phenomenology, philosophy of mind, ethics, as well as the philosophy of education.
He has employed phenomenological perspectives to conduct collaborative projects on the
education of children and adults with disabilities. His major publications include the following
books (in Japanese): Phenomenology of the Environment (2016), Phenomenology of Body and
Special Needs Education (2015), Phenomenology of Boundaries (2014), Consciousness
Doesn’t Exist (2011), The Ecological Self (2011), Re-questioning the Concept of Morality
(2011), The Philosophy and the Ethics of Neuroscience (2008), Moral Realism (2007), and
The Ecological View of Mind (2003). Tania Zittoun is a professor of socio-cultural psychology at the Institute of Psychology and Education (IPSYED), University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. She studies development of people throughout their lives, with a focus in transition periods in life, and the role of culture (including books, movies, music, religion, or traditional practices) in these transitions. She currently leads projects on mobility in small localities in Europe, as well in relationship to families and education as part of the "nccr – on the move" (the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) for migration and mobility studies) and on the development in ageing people.
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