2020 Volume 52 Issue 2 Pages 1-19
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the essential features of psychological categories used in the mind sciences such as psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience from the perspective of theoretical psychology. I shall focus especially on the category of “emotion”. Firstly, I shall examine how psychology and philosophy have categorized emotions in referring to the history of philosophy and psychology and demonstrate that psychological categorization in general is laden with practical and social meanings. I shall proceed to highlight the problems regarding psychological methodology and basic theoretical assumptions, assumptions that are modeled on physical science, resulting in a de-contextualization and de-temporalization. In conclusion, I shall propose some possible solutions to overcome these problems in the mind sciences.