Future of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

Psychological science is at a crossroads. The last two decades has brought a range of fundamental issues into focus, including the replication crisis highlighted by large-scale community efforts such as the Open Science Collaboration, problems with representativeness and diversity emphasized by researchers such as Apicella, Norenzayan, and Henrich, and concerns regarding the very nature of the construction of theories raised by Oberauer and Lewandowsky; and van Rooij and Baggio, and more recent contributions by van Dongen and colleagues. At the same time, long-standing questions about explanation, evidence, and mind-world relations are now intersecting with rapid developments in cognitive science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. These converging trends highlight both the urgency and the opportunity for rigorous theoretical and philosophical work that can clarify, critique, and guide the future of psychology.This Research Topic aims to consolidate and advance the evolving landscape of theoretical and philosophical psychology. It focuses on how conceptual analysis, philosophical argument, and theoretical modelling can inform and reshape psychological inquiry across cognitive, developmental, and social domains. Of particular interest are contributions that interrogate the assumptions behind prevailing methods, propose new integrate frameworks for understanding mind and behavior, or bridge debates in philosophy and psychology. Submissions may be theoretical or empirical, but should offer a clear theoretical advance and explicit engagement with issues of methodology, epistemology, or conceptual clarification. The themes below are indicative rather than exhaustive; we welcome work that revisits, refines, or reimagines existing approaches in light of contemporary scientific, technological, and societal developments.Example sub-themes:• How methods from disciplines can be meaningfully integrated to help shape theoretical advances in psychological science.• Revisiting levels of explanation, including classic frameworks such as Marr’s taxonomy, through the lens of advanced integrative methods.• The role of LLMs and AI in advancing future theory and explanation in psychology• Interrogating the nature of theorizing in psychology - what are the constraints on theories that afford advances in explanation.We especially welcome Mini Reviews, Perspectives, Opinions, General Commentaries, Policy Briefs, and Data Reports, while remaining open to other article types that advance these aims.Works mentioned:Apicella, C., Norenzayan, A., & Henrich, J. (2020). Beyond WEIRD. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 41, 319-329.Marr, D. (1982). Vision. A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information. MIT Press. Oberauer, K. & Lewandowsky, S. (2019). Addressing the theory crisis in psychology. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 26, 1596–1618.van Dongen , N., van Bork, R., Finnemann, A., Haslbeck, J. M. B., van der Maas, H. L. J., Robinaugh, D. J., de Ron, J., Sprenger, J., & Borsboom, D. (2025). Productive explanation: A framework for evaluating explanations in psychological science. Psychological Review, 132(2), 311–329.van Rooij, I. & Baggio, G. (2021). Theory before the test: how to build high-verisimilitude explanatory theories in psychological science. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 16, 682–697. Topic editors: Kenny Coventry Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78615/future-of-theoretical-and-philosophical-psychology