Strife of Systems Tension between Organismic and Developmental Points of View

Abstract

Having worked with Heinz Werner (Werner & Kaplan, 1963/ 1983) to articulate the organismic-developmental approach to psychological phenomena, the author, in this paper, attempts critically to reflect upon the tensions and oppositions between the two components of that ostensibly unitary approach: the organismic-holistic component, which emphasizes the sovereignty and autonomy of sociocultural and, ultimately, individual `entities' in matters of the Good, the True and the Beautiful, and the developmental component, which stresses system (cultural and individual)-transcending norms or standards for the assessment and ranking of diverse `forms of life' or `modes of mentation'. These tensions between immanence and transcendence continue to be manifested in the sometimes violent and virulent oppositions between socioculturalists-historicists-relativists, on the one hand, and objectivists, on the other, and in current intra-societal debates over `multiculturalism', Eurocentrism, rights of self-determination, etc.

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