ABSTRACT
There is a fairly common misunderstanding of science in our contemporary intellectual culture which, when employed in the study of human beings, obviates any form of genuine or meaningful human agency. The discussion of agency in this chapter goes to the heart of this issue. Popular conceptions of science, because they reflect the assumptions of scientism, often leave no room for agency, as both science and agency are commonly understood. This essay will examine the problematic understandings of science and agency that have produced the confusion that is commonly experienced as agency is discussed—or sidestepped—within the mainstream literature of psychology. It will then explore alternative intellectual grounds that allow for science and agency to be understood in ways that dissolve the conflict that is commonly assumed to attach each.
