Considering the challenges psychology faces in defining concepts like the “self,” it raises an interesting question: can any psychological theory truly stand the test of time? The difficulty in building lasting theories is clear when we can’t even agree on fundamental ideas. The concept of the “self” is particularly elusive. What if the self doesn’t even exist in the way we think it does? This idea has been proposed by philosophers and even some neuroscientists who argue that our sense of self might be an illusion. If that’s the case, then any attempt to base a comprehensive theory on the “self” could be fundamentally flawed.
This leads me to wonder about the future of psychology. Psychiatrists are sometimes described as shooting darts in the dark, hinting at the uncertainty in our understanding of the human mind. Is it even possible for psychology to develop into a field capable of producing a megatheory that unifies our understanding of the self, consciousness, or even the soul? Unlike physics, where grand theories like relativity give us a unified understanding of the universe, psychology seems to be struggling to even define its basic building blocks.
I wonder if we can’t fully define the self, can psychology ever claim to understand the human experience as deeply as it hopes to?
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