Performing Psychology consists of essays and stage plays by and about Fred Newman, the controversial American philosopher, psychotherapist, playwright and political activist for whom psychology, social action, human development and performance are one. The reader is invited into dialogues currently taking place among psychologists, philosophers, artists, and community activists on such topics as: the nature of human subjectivity; the relationship of theater to human development; the status of traditional science in a postmodern world; the process of therapy and diagnosis; and the re-initiation of creativity and growth. Arguing that both psychological activity and its study are essentially performance, Newman and his colleagues expose the myths of mainstream psychology and the limitations of its postmodern challengers. More than an academic critique, Performing Psychology offers a new methodology for understanding human life. -from the publisher's website Contents:
Forward Kenneth Gergen Introduction Lois Holzman Life Upon the Wicked Stage Fred Newman Life as Performance (Can you Practice Psychology If There's Nothing That's "Really" Going On?) Lois Holzman Diagnosis: The Human Cost of the Rage to Order Fred Newman and Kenneth Gergen Beyond Narrative to Performed Conversation ('In The Beginning' Comes Much Later) Fred Newman and Lois Holzman A Therapeutic Deconstruction of the Illusion of Self Fred Newman Science Can Do Better Than Sokal: A Commentary on the So-called Science Wars Fred Newman The Story of Truth (A Whodunnit) or Philosophie Dan La Teatre Fred Newman Twenty-Two Weeks of Pointless Conversation Dan Friedman What Is To Be Dead? (Philosophical Scenes) Fred Newman | 
