Abstract
This is a revision of a volume published in 1987 by the first author. Both editions probe major theories of psychology for their implicit or explicit assumptions they make along five dimensions: (1) the type of metaphor they utilize; (2) the basic need of life; (3) the essential obligation that motivates behavior; (4) the kinds of permissions/constraints imposed on humans by the environment; (5) and the rules and roles their theories recommend. The theories of Freud, Maslow, Perls, Skinner, Jung, Erikson, Kohut, Ellis, Beck and Bowen are analyzed and critiqued via the theological propositions of Reinhold Niebuhr. The authors label their approach "hermeneutic realism" and suggest that probing the underlying presumptions of social theory is grounded in the hermeneutic philosophy discussed in the writings of Gadamer of Ricoeur. This is the essential question asked in these theories: What is their underlying understanding of the nature and potential of human life?