`Nomothetic' and `Idiographic'

Abstract

Modem understandings of the terms `idiographic' and `nomothetic' have diverged considerably from the meanings originally assigned to those terms by their inventor, the German philosopher Wilhelm Windelband (1848-1915). Much of this is attributable to the ascendance and eventual hegemony of aggregate statistical thinking within scientific psychology generally and personality psychology in particular. Based on an examination of the relevant portions of Windelband's original 1894 text, the present article seeks to clarify the misunderstandings which have resulted from this development. One objective of this contribution is to provide a more accurate historical perspective on the long-running nomothetic vs idiographic controversy. A second objective is to provide a much needed critical perspective on certain knowledge claims currently issuing from some quarters of mainstream trait psychology.