Associationism without associative links: Thomas Brown and the associationist project |
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| Authors: | Mike Dacey |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Germany;2. Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Germany;1. Retina and Optic Nerve Research Laboratory, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;2. Clinical Vision Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;3. Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;4. Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;1. Departamento de Psicología y Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, Campus Universitario de Teruel, Ciudad Escolar, s/n. 44003, Teruel,Spain;2. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Spain;3. IR3C, Spain;1. Department of Clinical Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, 5-11-80 Kodatsuno, Kanazawa 920-0942, Japan;2. Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University, 5-11-80 Kodatsuno, Kanazawa 920-0942, Japan;3. Faculty of Nursing, Osaka Medicine College, 7-6 Hacchonishimachi, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-0095, Japan;4. Department of Gerontological Nursing/Wound Care Management, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan |
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| Abstract: | There are two roles that association played in 18th–19th century associationism. The first dominates modern understanding of the history of the concept: association is a causal link posited to explain why ideas come in the sequence they do. The second has been ignored: association is merely regularity in the trains of thought, and the target of explanation. The view of association as regularity arose in several forms throughout the tradition, but Thomas Brown (1778–1820) makes the distinction explicit. He argues that there is no associative link, and association is mere sequence. I trace this view of association through the tradition, and consider its implications: Brown's views, in particular, motivate a rethinking of the associationist tradition in psychology. Associationism was a project united by a shared explanandum phenomenon, rather than a theory united by a shared theoretical posit. |
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| Keywords: | Associationism Psychology Thomas Brown David Hume Empiricism |
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