Philosophy Vs. Psychology: A Relation of Synergy
Critics and admirers alike find Scheler's ethics susceptible to flights of romanticism as "decisively canceling the normative character of ethical acts." No surprise since a non-formal ethics does not rely on a system of rules or principles, but only implicit suggestions. More pragmatic applications of Scheler's principles might best be implemented under the controlled guidance of therapeutic psychology.
Scheler’s ideas are inspiring to anyone who shares a common philosophical belief in the fundamental value of persons and in developing each of us to our optimum potential. This is all the more true when we consider just what this might mean for a well ordered free and democratic society.
However, extreme care should be taken not to assume Scheler’s philosophy is somehow based purely in some sort of progressive bottom-up psychology: for example, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, or Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development. This is particularly important since Scheler’s relied extensively on hierarchical “stratification” models as a sort of general motif for his philosophy as a whole, as well as for a wide range of editorial topics. In spite many striking content similarities with scientific psychological theories, Scheler’s philosophy is, by contrast, first and foremost a serviceable speculative top-down emanation model, guided by love and values, and based upon dualistic metaphysical principals of Vital Urge (Drang) and Spirit (Geist).
Likewise, science alone can not fully account the sustaining spiritual forces that lift man and culture beyond the limitations of practical necessity, adaptation and natural selection. When scientific method can no longer design a model to verify what the scientist suspects, he becomes a philosopher of sorts...that is when the scientific community considers that member to have gone "soft in the head"--a distinction which ironically includes most of the best and brightest of science.
Read more about this topic: Stratification Of Emotional Life (Scheler)
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