Resumen

CIFUENTES-MUNOZ, Alejandro. Epistemological assumptions in fundamental psychotherapeutic currents: A methodological proposal. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2021, vol.38, n.2, pp.149-166. ISSN 1668-7027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.16888/interd.2021.38.2.10.

This article aims to be a point of convergence in two areas of relevance to the human sciences: psychology and philosophy. This is achieved through the presentation of a methodological proposal that allows the unveiling of the epistemological assumptions present in the fundamental psychotherapeutic currents.

The general theoretical context of the proposal is based on the philosophy of psychology. This focuses on the investigation of the philosophical foundations of psychology. Such foundations can be diverse: ethical, aesthetic, logical, semantic, ontological or epistemological, the latter being central to the development of the proposal. Within the philosophy of psychology, a particular line of research is developed that is theoretically situated in an area of ​​philosophy - epistemology - and in an area of ​​psychology - psychotherapy -, converging in the epistemology of psychotherapy, which grants the particular framework.

The epistemology of psychotherapy focuses on the study and critical reflection of the foundations of knowledge in the psychotherapeutic discipline. Research from this line has been approached mainly from three perspectives: (1) from the client, as a personal structure, (2) from the process, as a branch of scientific psychology and (3) from the representations of the psychotherapist. This article proposes the development of a fourth perspective: one that is centered on theories, or in other words, on the epistemological assumptions present in the fundamental psychotherapeutic currents. This task is seen pending in the literature, so an analysis model is proposed that allows uncovering such assumptions in the fundamental psychotherapeutic currents.

The foundation of the proposal lies around its epistemological relevance, relative to the construction of knowledge in psychotherapy and the study of the theories through which the reality of the client is known. It also has psychotherapeutic relevance, around the contribution that the epistemology of psychotherapy can give to studies on effectiveness in the discipline. Furthermore, it is presented consistent with the research interests of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (STPP), division 24 of the American Psychological Association (APA).

The central constructs of the model are: (1) the epistemological-type philosophical assumptions, which will be considered, in general, as the philosophical assumptions related to the study of the nature, scope and validity of human knowledge (rationalism, empiricism, pragmatism, positivism, positivism logical, phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory and configurationism, among others); and (2) the fundamental psychotherapeutic currents that will correspond to the psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic-existential and systemic approach, understood exclusively from their role in psychotherapy.

For the unveiling of the epistemological assumptions present in the fundamental psychotherapeutic currents, a methodological proposal is developed based on the analogical hermeneutics of Mauricio Beuchot. This converges into a model of analysis, or interpretative network, that allows us to uncover such assumptions by elaborating a hermeneutical question, a hermeneutical answer, and a series of interpretative arguments that support it.

Finally, an example of the application of the model around the humanist-existential current is presented in order to clarify its development and implementation. By way of closing, some reflections are presented around (1) the challenges and implications in the psychotherapeutic practice of the proposal; (2) to the various research possibilities that can be generated with its application and; (3) to the contributions that philosophy can give to psychotherapy.

Palabras clave : epistemology; psychotherapy; analogical hermeneutics; psychology; philosophy.

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