Slife-Reber Five-point Argument (with corollaries/implicationsof primary points)

1)All methods of inquiry are interpretive.

  1. All inquiry/method interpretations entail assumptions or prejudgments (system of assumptions or worldviews), including epistemological and ontological assumptions.
  2. Traditional quantitative methods are not descriptive in unbiased sense. They don’t map or represent reality; they interpret reality.
  3. Raises question: What are the assumptions of traditional methods?

2)At least one major assumption of traditional quantitative methods is incompatible with a theistic worldview.

  1. “Dogma of science” is naturalism, whether reductive or nonreductive, defined here (weakly) as God not required.
  2. Clear logical incompatibility on this assumption: Theism—God is required; Naturalism—God is not required (which is not atheism, but rather a-theism).
  3. Raises question: Are other assumptions (order, truth) incompatible?

3)The God-assumption of theism is an altering rather than an add-on assumption.

  1. If add-on assumption, then the worldviews are not thoroughly incompatible, (which is the conventional view of naturalism/theism relationship).
  2. If altering assumption, then worldviews are generally incompatible.
  3. If generally incompatible, then naturalism cannot produce unbiased findings with regard to theism.
  4. Raises question: Does this incompatibility mean that theists should avoid traditional science?

1.No. We can dialogue with and learn from people/positions that are incompatible. BUT theists shouldn’t assume that naturalisticfindings describe a theistic interpretive world. Theists should be cautious and take into account the alternative assumptions.

2.Incompatible worldviews also means that theism has alternative perspective to offer psychology, e.g., research on: image of God, prayer, forgiveness, conversion, and change.

4)Many psychologists are making implicit prejudgments that theistic modes of inquiry and explanations should be ruled out before any investigation.

  1. This is what Slife and Reber (2009) call implicit prejudice.
  2. This type of prejudice is not conscious, deliberate, or intentional, but it is consistent with modern racial orgender prejudices.
  3. Example: Division 36 flagship journalcommits this prejudice because it rules out theistic explanation and research (Piedmont, ).
  4. Example: Many psychological definitions of conceptions and practices often associated with theism (e.g., prayer, conversion, image of God, forgiveness) omit God (as if God is not required, i.e., naturalism).

5)To affirm diversity, psychologists need to allow intellectual and political space for theistic research and explanations in the marketplace of ideas.

  1. Theism and naturalism the two main philosophies of Western culture.
  2. Theism has a long history of research and scholarship.
  3. Many intelligent, informed people experience the world theistically, including the majority of consumers of psychological ideas.