ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to clarify the use of psychological explanations by considering two special kinds of relationships: that between an adult and a child, and that between a therapist and his client. It then argues that Strawson is wrong to depict these relationships as relevantly different from so-called ‘normal’ ones and consequently that Ps-explanations may affect our evaluations of what any person does or says. Certain features of the Ps-explanation may be clarified by considering its use in the paradigm cases of children’s behaviour and psychopathology. It is interesting to note that the Ps-explanation is often communicated to the child. The view that Ps-explanations must imply that all reasons are rationalizations is similarly irrelevant if it has restricted the discussion to so-called non-teleological (‘causal’) explanations.
