Article ID: CBB979072585

Associationism Without Associative Links: Thomas Brown and the Associationist Project (2015)

unapi

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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Authors & Contributors
Abou-Nemeh, Catherine
Schmit, Christophe
Voyer, Robert
Sleigh, Charlotte
Schliesser, Eric S.
Roe, Glenn
Concepts
Transmission of ideas
Communication of scientific ideas
Philosophy of science
Translations
Scientific communities; interprofessional relations
Natural philosophy
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century
17th century
Enlightenment
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
France
Scotland
Dublin (Ireland)
England
United States
Institutions
Académie Royale des Sciences (France)
Observatoire de Paris
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
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