Bennett Moehl

Choosing and Deciding: a Balance Between Existentialism and Cognitive Science Bennett Moehl

... Today Psychology is straddling the schism between Science and Art, a divide that in Western Culture appears to have begun with the progeny of Socrates. With Plato there was Idealism (Art) and with Aristotle there was analysis and experimentation (Science). The Ends are the same, the explanation and understanding of life; it is however in the Means that they differ. In this there is acrimony, a desire for supremacy and all Balance is lost. Currently, Science has the most momentum and all things have turned towards it. In the sub-field of Clinical Psychology, the Art is lost now in the sea of Science. The treatment of mental disorders has become largely evidence based and rigidly measured. Symptoms abate and relapse, so how successful is Science alone? Both approaches have constructed theories of Mind. One is analytical, driven to solve problems by way of decision and judgment algorithms while the other is non-rational and abstract driven to choose. These two approaches need not be acrimonious as a thesis and antithesis, they can be utilized together in Balance for the creation of something more, a synthesis...