ABSTRACT
Psychology is a conceptually diverse discipline, prone to disputes and controversy. On the contemporary scene, a major tension exists between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. Historians and philosophers of psychology have proposed a variety of means for understanding this and other disputes, and the present chapter joins this task. It is in two parts. Part I begins by briefly reviewing, and finding inadequate, several standard approaches to the analysis of theoretical diversity and conflict. It concludes by developing an alternative perspective on the conceptual foundations of psychology. Part II considers behaviorism and cognitivism specifically. Working from the conceptual scheme of the first part of the chapter, a case is made for the complementarity (though certainly not for the equivalence) of cognitive and behavioral psychology.
