Author Description

The first section of this volume demonstrates the power, utility, and applicability of Descriptive Psychology (DP) concepts by addressing a broad range of meaningful and important real-life phenomena and problems. As a comprehensive intellectual discipline, DP concepts provide compelling perspectives for comprehending significant aspects of the human condition and practical strategies for solving human problems. By precisely describing, distinguishing among, and explicating the fundamental concepts of important phenomena, DP effectively increases the behavior potential of persons engaged in these phenomena. The clarity that these explications provide improves the understanding of the phenomena, which in turn enhances the competence with which persons can engage in these important endeavors. Worlds and world construction were there at the beginning of Descriptive Psychology (Davis, 1981). But the canonical presentation of these distinctions came in Ossorio s (1971/1975/1978/2005) What Actually Happens, and in Mary Roberts (1985) Worlds and World Reconstruction where she laid out the ways in which dreams and stories might function in world reconstruction. In [the second] section, we have an opportunity to see elaborations and advances in the applications of these distinctions. Establishing common ground where ideas and meanings can be shared is a foundation for shared purpose and for productive use of differences in perspective. Communities have members who share values, knowledge, and skills relevant to their particular positions. The effectiveness of persons in their roles is bounded, among other things, by the adequacy of the concepts they employ. The papers [in this volume] demonstrate how Descriptive Psychology provides a set of precise conceptual tools that foster access to significant distinctions vital to a variety of communities. The first of the essays provides a basic orientation to Descriptive Psychology, the second articulates a mathematical formulation o