The Laboratory Wundt Has Moved Toward Empirically-Based Research In Psychology

The natural inclination to understand phenomena in scientific ways is an innately human tendency (Haas, 2011). This desire to seek scientific explanations, particularly to explain empirical phenomena, is pervasive not only in scientific fields but also in various disciplines. Currently, an exorbitant amount of research exists that aims to investigate the impact that scientific phenomena have on social and cultural contexts. With scientific advances continually presenting, by and large, consensus on the definition of science is constantly adapting to new ideologies. Unless there is a clear consensus on this definition, the arguments pertaining to scientific recognition in the field of psychology will not predominate the arguments that are contending

Once dependent on the parent discipline of philosophy, psychology has moved toward empirically-based research. Klempe (2015) argues that the birth of psychology as an independent science is usually in reference to the laboratory Wundt established in Leipzig, Germany in 1879 (Klempe, 2015). The establishment of Wundt's experimental laboratory marked a significant movement in the history of psychology; this marked a move away from deductive reasoning and toward empirical investigations as a means of acquiring knowledge. This separation of disciplines can also be traced by focusing on how philosophy and psychology approach and understand thinking (Klempe, 2015). In experimental philosophy, there is growing tension between proponents of integrationism and autonomism (Higgins & Dyschkant, 2014). According to Higgins and Dyschkant (2014) integrationism argues that the characteristic methods of philosophy, such as a priori reasoning, should be supplemented by methods of other academic disciplines (Higgins & Dyschkant, 2014). In contrast, autonomism argues that the methods of philosophy are, in most cases, both necessary and sufficient for engaging in philosophical inquiry, such that philosophers have little to gain from interdisciplinary collaboration (Higgins & Dyschkant, 2014). Gillespie (2006), made the assumption that an individual knows one's own mind better than anything else, and stated that this should be the starting point for psychology. This claim has a long history in the parent discipline of philosophy. A prominent figure in history, representing this notion is René Descartes (1596-1650) who argued that the existence of reflective thought is indubitable and therefore should be the first principle of philosophy (Gillespie, 2006). Following this logic, Descartes formulated the argument that the mind and the body come to be known as separate substances