Some Global and Specific Thoughts about Some Global and Specific Issues

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Notes

¹Classification issues can become complicated, and one essential point of clarification is the concept of category or taxon. When one talks about legitimate categories or taxons, one does not necessarily mean a physical entity like a dog or a house, as the term can also refer to other types of true classes involving sociological phenomena, roles, or idea classes. For example, “neurologist” and “conservative” are both probably true classes, even though the latter in particular is likely to have a good deal of intra-class variation.

²For what it is worth, I do not hold any of these positions and rather would describe myself as a quasi-scientific realist, that is, I believe that there is some material world separate from our conceptualizing it, and that a basic aim of science is try to develop knowledge that corresponds as closely as possible with the external world or state of nature.

³Measuring impact or treatment validity is a whole other matter and can sometimes create daunting complexities, as most any researcher in such related areas as psychotherapy outcome would be quick to point out. Nevertheless, although we may only have approximate or partial solutions, many of these potential problems are surmountable.

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Notes on contributors

David Faust

David Faust, Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, and Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Medical School.