Reply to Kline, Laming, Lovie, Luce and Morgan

Abstract

My paper proposed first, that psychology is committed to the scientijfc task of testing the hypothesis that its supposedly measurable attributes really are quantitative; second, that from its inception, modern quantitative psychology has, with few exceptions, ignored this task, concentrating instead upon the instrumental task of quantification ; and third, that modern psychology has adopted an intellectually pathological defence mechanism against recognizing the existence of this scientific task. The commentaries by Kline, Laming, Lovie, Luce and Morgan either amplify or criticize my arguments for these theses. I will consider each thesis in turn, presenting a sketch of my argument and then assessing the force of the criticisms.