“You will never find the limits of the soul, though you travel every road, so deep is its ground.” –Heraclitus

 

Welcome to the Web Pages of Michael R. Jackson

This website explores a variety of themes related to psychology, psychotherapy, social issues, and human knowledge. The perspective from which these interrelated themes are considered here is that of critical humanism. 

What is critical humanism?

Critical humanism has been conceptualized in a number of different ways, but most of these conceptions involve two ideas:  First, that our engagement with the world should be guided by fundamental human needs and values (humanism); and second, that our understanding of these needs and values must be accompanied by an uncompromising willingness to question our own assumptions (the critical standpoint). 

These two links say a little more about humanism and the critical standpoint. 

The structure of this website

This website consists of four main sections, each applying the perspective of critical humanism to a particular set of problems.

The first section, Psychological Knowledge, contains a series of short commentaries, or “notes,” on different aspects of psychological knowledge.  These notes have been ordered in a way that presents a larger argument, but they can also be read as free-standing comments.

The second section, Psychological Issues, presents more detailed analyses of some specific issues and controversies in psychology.  This section is intended for students, academics, and lay persons who would like a deeper understanding of a number of ethical, professional, and conceptual problems in the field of psychology, and in social science more generally.  

The third section contains reviews of books written for the public on controversial issues related to psychology, including some in which the authors have misapplied, misinterpreted or misrepresented psychological research, particularly with regard to race. 

The fourth section presents brief descriptions of actual psychotherapy cases illustrating how an unstructured psychodynamic/humanistic approach can be applied to aid in understanding real people struggling with real problems. 

Finally, the section entitled References lists works cited on the pages of this website, and the section entitled About contains some biographical information about me, acknowledgements and credits, and a portal through which I can be contacted. 

I hope you find this website useful!