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This book is the first comprehensive intellectual biography of Johannes Linschoten, whose work has been credited with helping to bring down the Utrecht School of phenomenological psychology. The authors show this to be a mistaken assumption in the light of Linschoten's entire oeuvre and demonstrate his importance for an understanding of a phenomenological psychology that necessarily coexists with an experimental, scientific psychology. In the Netherlands, Linschoten is particularly appreciated for his last book, published posthumously. That volume, Idols of the Psychologist, took a critical look at phenomenological psychology and its pretensions while simultaneously acknowledging that a phenomenological outlook is a necessity for beginning any kind of experimental investigation. Most commentators on this book considered Linschoten a convert from phenomenology to experimental psychology, but have either ignored his earlier, substantive work or have not seen the importance of the intellectual context for his final work. By examining his life and the full extent of his voluminous writings, this book demonstrates Linschoten's importance for the development of psychology in the Netherlands and beyond. It will shed new light on the life and work of Johannes Linschoten as well as the Dutch school of phenomenology and its postwar contributions to psychology in Europe and North America. Furthermore, for the first time, this book brings together important aspects of Linschoten's life with his prodigious output. It demonstrates how his life and work created a unique psychology that deserves to be continued and developed.

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the third biennial conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, held in Arnhem, the Netherlands, April 17-21, 1989. Fifty-six papers were presented during the four days of the conference, including an invited address by Professor A. D. de Groot, and seven papers composing two plenary sessions, four on the con­ tribution of history to theory, and three on theoretical alternatives for contem­ porary psychology. Of these, 46 papers are presented in the proceedings; all of which suffered editorial changes and, with the exception of the invited ad­ dress, were required to meet a 15 page restriction on length. The editors gratefully acknowledge John Mills, Leendert Mos, and Hank Starn for their invaluable editorial assistance. The papers included here are presented without discussants'commen­ taries. (Over 125 psychologists participated at the conference.) While the papers are representative of the scope of topics covered at the conference, the hours of formal and informal discussions must, unfortunately, be left to the reader's imagination. We encourage the reader to attend one of our next conferences, planned biennially, and alternately, in North America (1991) and Europe (1993).