Vaihinger’s “as if” philosophy has value for psychology. Language need not be employed objectively nor phenomenologically. It can be used invitationally – ”a verb could be cast in a form which would suggest to the listener that a certain novel interpretation of an object might be entertained.”
Kelly G. A. (1969) Man’s construction of his alternatives. In: Maher B. (ed.) Clinical psychology and personality: The selected papers of George Kelly. John Wiley & Sons, New York: 66–93. https://cepa.info/7113
Kelly G. A. (1970) A brief introduction to personal construct psychology. In: Bannister D. (ed.) Perspectives in personal construct psychology. Academic Press, London: 1–30.
Who can say what nature is? Is it what now exists about us, including all the tiny hidden things that wait so patiently to be discovered? Or is it the vista of all that is destined to occur, whether tomorrow or in some distant eon of time? Or is nature infinitely more varied than this, the myriad trains of events that might ensue if we were to be so bold, ingenious, and irreverent as to take a hand in its management? Personal construct theory is a notion about how man may launch out from a position of admitted ignorance, and how he may aspire from one day to the next to transcend his own dogmatisms. It is, then, a theory of man’s personal inquiry – a psychology of human quest. It does not say what has been or will be found, but proposes rather how we might go about looking for it.
Kelly G. A. (2003) A brief introduction to personal construct theory. In: Fransella F. (ed.) International handbook of personal construct psychology. Wiley, Chester UK: 3–30. https://cepa.info/5369
Excerpt: Who can say what nature is? Is it what now exists about us, including all the tiny hidden things that wait so patiently to be discovered? Or is it the vista of all that is destined to occur, whether tomorrow or in some distant eon of time? Or is nature infinitely more varied than this, the myriad trains of events that might ensue if we were to be so bold, ingenious, and irreverent as to take a hand in its management? Personal construct theory is a notion about how man may launch out from a position of admitted ignorance, and how he may aspire from one day to the next to transcend his own dogmatisms. It is, then, a theory of man’s personal inquiry – a psychology of human quest. It does not say what has been or will be found, but proposes rather how we might go about looking for it.