One of the original aims of this journal was to promote theory in psychology. Nowadays more and more psychological researchers are calling for more theory development, and articles on the “theory crisis” have also found their way into mainstream journals. In this article, we provide a further perspective to this theory debate. Over the past century, philosophy of science has staged extensive discussions on the mathematization of nature and on the role of mathematics in the development of theory and the connection of theory to empirical facts. We show that these discussions are highly relevant for the current debate in psychology. In particular, we emphasize the importance of conceptual work in the process of mathematization, and the role of mathematics in co-ordinating theory and observations. We then discuss the implications that these points have for statistically oriented psychology in general and for the recent theory debate in psychology.

中文翻译：

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科学哲学与心理学理论的形式化

该杂志的最初目标之一是促进心理学理论。现在越来越多的心理学研究者呼吁进行更多的理论发展，关于“理论危机”的文章也进入了主流期刊。在本文中，我们为这一理论辩论提供了更进一步的视角。在过去的一个世纪里，科学哲学对自然的数学化、数学在理论发展中的作用以及理论与经验事实的联系进行了广泛的讨论。我们表明，这些讨论与当前的心理学辩论高度相关。我们特别强调概念工作在数学化过程中的重要性，以及数学在协调理论和观察中的作用。