A Bridge Between Theory and Practice,Between General Laws and Contexts?

Abstract

On the basis of informal content analysis of the deliberations and materials of two international conferences the author identifies (a) the capacity to resolve theory-practice tension, and (b) the flexibility of the conceptual system needed to subsume changes at both individual and social levels, and represent idiosyncratic and aggregate experiences as the critical dimensions determining the application value of cross-cultural theories for the Third World. Then the genesis of Boesch's action theory is traced to the contributions of Piaget, Janet, Lewin and cross-cultural experience. A partial description of Boesch's theory is presented. That theory has a cognitive field theoretical orientation and makes a phase- wise analysis of action as a reciprocal and interactive link between the environment and the individual, and provides concepts which handle subjective/objective and individual/ aggregate levels of experiences. An evaluation of the theory is given.

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Lutz H. Eckensberger is Professor of Psychology, Universitaet des Saarlandes, Federal Republic of Germany. His current interests are methodological problems and moral development.