ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issue of the status of developmental theories. It discusses the concepts of paradigm, metaphor, and narrative as these apply to developmental theories. The chapter argues that all developmental theories use metaphors as explanatory models. Metaphors that refer to organic or mechanical processes cannot translate human experience into its component meanings for the person. The mechanistic metaphor is the dominant metaphor in the physical sciences. The descriptive perspective is the only perspective that is consistent with this metaphor. S. Freud’s dynamic point of view is perhaps the best example of a mechanistic/hydraulic model of the functioning of mind. The choice of information processing theory, as a root metaphor, was influenced by the advances in communications theory, systems theory, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. The organismic metaphor is grounded on biological principles.
