Sigmund Koch's "epistemopathic" peregrinations of the inquiring impulse 1 . Jargon and "word magic. " 2 . Single-principle imperialism. 3.

Substitution of program for performance. . !endenc" to ma#e so restricti$e a definition of the field of stud" as to render the stud" beside the point or% indeed% finished before begun. & . 'acilitation of progress b" ma#ing a set of arbitrar" and strong simplif"ing assumptions (e. g. % imaginar" "boundar" conditions% " counterfactual assumptions re mathematical properties of the data)% proposing an "as if" model obser$ing that set of restrictions% and then gratefull" falling pre" to total amnesia for those restrictions. *. !endenc" to select-usuall" on e+traneous bases li#e amenabilit" to "control" or to contemplated modes of mathematical treatment-a "simple case" and then to assume that it will be merel" a matter of time and energ" until the "comple+ case" can be handled b" application of eas" composition rules. ,. !endenc" to accept on authorit" or in$ent a sacred% in$iolable "selfcorrecti$e" epistemolog" that renders all inquir" in the field a matter of application of rules which preguarantee success. -. .orollar" to the preceding% a $iew of all aspects of the cogniti$e enterprise as so thoroughl" ruleregulated as to ma#e the role of the cogni/er superfluous. !he rule is father to the thought-and mother% too0 1. !endenc" to persist so rigidl"% blindl"% patientl"% in the application of the rules-despite fulsome indications of their disutilit" 2 that the beha$ior would ha$e to be characteri/ed as schi/ophrenic in an" other conte+t. 13. !endenc" to accept an" "finding" conformable to some treasured methodolog" in preference to "traditional" wisdom or indi$idual e+perience% no matter how pellucidl" and frequentl" confirmed the nonscientistic #nowledge ma" be. 11 . 4pistemopath" 5o. 13% at a certain critical-mass $alue% results in the total abrogation of the criterion that #nowledge should make sense and in an ultimate distrust of one's own e+perience. 6f a finding does ma#e sense% one distrusts it. 12. 7n e+ceedingl" strong reluctance to reinspect one's deeper epistemological and8or substanti$e commitments. !his% in effect% is the theor" of truth b" indi$idual consistenc" o$er time. 13 . 4rgo 2 a remar#able and telling disproportion between the attention gi$en tothe foundation commitments of one's wor# and that gi$en to superficial or pedantic details of implemental character. 9ne dwells happil" within the "superstructure% " howe$er shodd" or wormeaten the "substructure. " 1 . !endenc" to bu" into stable or fashionable profession-centered m"ths with a minimum of prior critical e+amination% to accept congealed group suppressions concerning b"passed problems or data: or alternati$e theoretical possibilities: or intrinsic (and sometimes patent) limits on the scope% anal"tic or predicti$e specificit"% and so on% attainable in the field in question. 4rgo% a disposition to become a "central tendenc"" creature% to hold in chec# (or happil" suffer a reduction of) one's imaginati$e and critical resources... ...there are times and circumstances in which able indi$iduals% committed to inquir"% tend almost obsessi$el" to frustrate the ob;ecti$es of inquir". 6t is as if uncertaint"% mootness% ambiguit"% cogniti$e finitude were the most unbearable of the e+istential anguishes. <nder these conditions% able and sincere inquirers become as autistic as little children: the" seem more impelled toward the pursuit and maintenance of securit" fantasies than the winning of whate$er significant #nowledge ma" be within reach0= Sigmund Koch >!he nature and limits of ps"chological #nowledge= in Koch (ed) A Century of Psychology as a Science.