Steven James Bartlett (born 1945) is an American philosopher and psychologist notable for his studies in epistemology and the theory of reflexivity, and for his work on the psychology of human aggression and destructiveness, and the shortcomings of psychological normality. His findings challenge the assumption that psychological normality should serve as a standard for good mental health. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books and research monographs as well as many papers published in professional journals in the fields of epistemology, psychology, mathematical logic, and philosophy of science.
Biography Bartlett was born in Mexico City. He is the son of American author and artist Paul Alexander Bartlett and his wife, American poet Elizabeth Bartlett. Steven James Bartlett received his B.A. in 1965 from Raymond College, an Oxford-style honors college of the University of the Pacific, his M.A. in philosophy in 1968 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1971 from the Université de Paris, and later engaged in postdoctoral study in clinical psychology at Saint Louis University, 1975–77, and Washington University in St. Louis, 1983–84.Biographical and other information from "Steven James Bartlett" entry in Contemporary Authors Online. Literature Resource Center. Gale Document Number: GALE H1000305527. Detroit: Gale, 2013."About the Author," in Steven James Bartlett, The Pathology of Man: A Study of Human Evil. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2005, p. 360."About the Author," in Steven James Bartlett, Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health: The Need to Look Elsewhere for Standards of Good Psychological Health. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishers, 2011, p. 309.Steven James Bartlett, "A Brief Conceptual Autobiography," available from Willamette University."Short Bio," available from Willamette University."About the Author," in
Prior to high school, Bartlett attended schools both in the United States and in Mexico while his father undertook a study of some 350 haciendas throughout Mexico.Biographical and other information from "Paul Alexander Bartlett" entry in Contemporary Authors Online. Literature Resource Center. Gale Document Number: GALE H1000005836. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Bartlett showed unusual aptitude, skipping a grade in grammar school, attending college concomitantly while still in high school, and completing his undergraduate degree in three years, followed by a succession of scholarships and fellowships during undergraduate and graduate study.
Bartlett served as professor at the University of Florida, 1971–72, and at the University of Hartford, 1972–74; was appointed research fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung der Lebensbedingungen der wissenschaftlich-technischen Welt in Starnberg, Germany, 1974–75; served as consultant for the RAND-National Science Foundation Project in Regional Analysis and Management of Environmental Systems, 1975–78; served as professor at Saint Louis University, 1975–84; was Associate Editor of The Modern Schoolman, 1975–84, Member of the advisory board of the Dutch journal Methodology and Science, 1976–95, Member of the Global Advisory Board of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, 2005- ; and has received honorary faculty appointments at Willamette University, 1988- , and at Oregon State University, 1988- . Bartlett is Trustee and Director of Publications for the international non-profit organization, Literary Olympics, Inc., 1994- .
He is married to Karen Margo Bartlett (Germanist, cellist, and viola da gambist), daughter of Shirley Love and physicist Allan W. Love, designer of the antenna line feed for the Arecibo Observatory's radio telescope.IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 52, No.3, June 2010, pp. 96-97: In Memoriam: Allan Walter Love, May 28, 1916-April 7, 2010.
Recognition and importance Bartlett has received recognition in both disciplines of philosophy and psychology. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books and research monographs, and many papers published in professional journals. His research has been funded under grants by the National Science Foundation, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, the Alliance Française, the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Lilly Endowment, and others. His work in both disciplines has been supported by well-known authors and researchers including Paul Ricoeur,A Relativistic Theory of Phenomenological Constitution: A Self-Referential, Transcendental Approach to Conceptual Pathology. 2 vols., 834 pages (Vol. I: French; Vol. II: English). Doctoral dissertation, Université de Paris, 1970. University Microfilms International #7905583. In 2013, published electronically by Erasmus University Rotterdam in two volumes: Vol. I in French, and Vol. II in English. Each volume contains a terminological index, with tables of contents hyperlinked to the text. Both open access volumes are also available through PhilPapers. Robert Hutchins,Steven James Bartlett, "Silence: Freedom or Crime?" In O. A. Robinson and Joseph Bien (Eds.), Leviathan: Proceedings of the Society for Social and Political Philosophy, 1979-1981. Allentown, PA: Klare Ltd., 1986, pp. 100-106. Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker,Steven James Bartlett, Metalogic of Reference: A Study in the Foundations of Possibility. Starnberg, Germany: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 1975. Thomas Szasz,Thomas Szasz, quotation from letter to the author dated November 15, 1990, published online and in the open access paper, Steven James Bartlett, "The Problem of Psychotherapeutic Effectiveness," updated 2014. M. Scott Peck,Steven James Bartlett, The Pathology of Man: A Study of Human Evil. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2005. Back cover commendation. Irving Greenberg, and others. Bartlett's work has been translated into German, Portuguese, French, and Polish.
Principal areas of research As described in further detail in the sections that follow, Bartlett's research and publications can be divided into two main groups: studies in philosophy and studies in clinical psychology. In philosophy, his research has focused on the theory of reflexivity, self-referential argumentation, and the metatheory of reference and identification. In clinical psychology, his research has focused on human pathology as it is expressed in genocide, the Holocaust, war, terrorism, obedience, hatred, human ecological destruction, and human conceptual pathology. In addition, Bartlett's research in clinical psychology has sought to develop our understanding of what he calls human moral intelligence, as well as of the psychology of peer review and editorial bias, the phenomenology of hatred, the psychology of mediocrity, and the psychology of stupidity. He has challenged the conventional understanding and treatment of mental disorders as promoted by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Bartlett's publishing record and biographical information show that his work developed during the following approximate periods: 1964–1974, studies in phenomenology 1975–1988, studies relating to the metalogic of reference 1989–2011, studies relating to clinical psychology 2012- , further work relating to the metalogic of reference
Research and publications in philosophy
Phenomenology and the elimination of conceptual error Beginning with Bartlett's doctoral dissertation, whose doctoral jury members were French philosopher Paul Ricoeur (dissertation director), Belgian mathematical logician Jean Ladrière, and Belgian philosopher Alphonse de Waehlens, Bartlett developed an approach to the study of philosophical problems by means of a therapy for concepts. The approach took the form of a self-validating phenomenological epistemology whose purpose is the identification and correction of many conceptually self-undermining errors that Bartlett classified as conceptual pathologies. He applied the resulting methodology to a number of traditionally understood epistemological problems, as well as to portions of everyday, conventional conceptual vocabulary, to show that many of these must be recognized to be self-referentially inconsistent. He characterized the resulting methodology as self-validating in the sense that it cannot not be accepted without self-referential inconsistency.
Studies of the metalogic of reference and conceptual therapy Bartlett first formulated his revisionary methodology within a phenomenological framework in which the concept of reference plays a logically primitive role; he later separated his approach to conceptual therapy from phenomenology. This took the form of a theoretically neutral metalogic of reference.Steven James Bartlett, Conceptual Therapy: An Introduction to Framework-relative Epistemology. Saint Louis: Studies in Theory and Behavior, 1983.Steven James Bartlett and Peter Suber (Eds.), Self-Reference: Reflections on Reflexivity. Dordrecht, Holland: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987; now published by Springer Science.Steven James Bartlett (Ed.), Reflexivity: A Source Book in Self-Reference. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1992. Now published electronically as an open access publication by Erasmus University Rotterdam.Steven James Bartlett, "Self-Reference, Phenomenology, and Philosophy of Science." Methodology and Science, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1980, pp. 143-167.Steven James Bartlett, "Referential Consistency as a Criterion of Meaning." Synthese, Vol. 52, 1982, pp. 267-282.Steven James Bartlett, "Philosophy as Conceptual Therapy." Educational Resources Information Center, National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, May, 1983, Document #ED 224 402.Steven James Bartlett, "Hoisted by Their Own Petards: Philosophical Positions that Self-Destruct." Argumentation, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1988, pp. 69-80.