I am an independent researcher with doctoral degrees in clinical psychology and early modern European history. My research is on the psychological ideas in the works of early modern European philosophers. My particular focus has been on the writings of Baruch Spinoza and David Hume, about which I have published and/or presented several papers. Interspersed with this historical research, I also write reviews of contemporary books on varied aspects of consciousness and agency. The list of publications in the CV below includes, where possible, links to the published papers.
Other items on the publications list reflect earlier research interests including: the theory and effectiveness of psychotherapy, emotion research on guilt, altruism and empathy, and studies in the history of early-modern France.
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
The Wright Institute (Berkeley) Ph.D., Clinical Psychology (1999)
University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., European History (1994)
Golden Gate University, M.B.A., Accounting (1977)
Boston College, A.B., Theology and Philosophy (1969)
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Meehan, W. (2015). Aristotle among the positivists: Formulating behaviorism as a teleological science. [Review of the book Escape of the Mind] .PsycCRITIQUES — Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books 60(1), Article 6. No Pagination Specified. Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2014). Spinoza. In Fraire, Nicoletta, Casey Pernask, Emily DePetro, Samantha Wagner, Cecilia Brown and Harry Whitaker Approaches to a History of Western Psychology. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Books. Paper 5. http://commons.nmu.edu/facwork_book/5. Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2014). In a Grain of Sand: Spinoza's Conception of Intuition. In Lisa M. Osbeck & Barbara S. Held (Eds.), Rational Intuition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 90-113.
Meehan, W. (2014). Return of the Repressed: Spinozan Ideas in the History of the Mind and Brain Sciences. In C. U. M. Smith & H. A. Whitaker (Eds.), Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience. Dordrecht: Springer, 21-42. Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2011). Review of the book, How the Mind uses the Brain (to move the body and image the universe) by Ralph D. Ellis and Nakita Newton. Chicago and LaSalle: Open Court, 2010. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 31(1), 258-261 Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2011). Psychology in the Age of Newton: Hume and Hartley on the Association of Ideas. Conference presentation (poster) at the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2011). Spinoza and the Mind-Body Problem. Paper distributed to participants in advance of the Cheiron/ ISHN Workshop: “The Hard Problem in History”, Banff, Alberta, Canada, June 20, 2011 Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2011). Unconscious planning: Joseph Weiss’s theory of psychotherapy. Talk to the San Francisco State University Clinical Colloquium, April 18
Bush, M. & Meehan, W. (2011). Should supportive measures be made an explicit part of psychoanalytic technique? The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 92: 377–399. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-8315.2011.00403.x
Meehan, W. (2010). Foreshadowing natural selection: Hume and the limit of Locke’s atomism. Conference presentation (poster) at the American Psychological Association, San Diego, CA Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2010). Discourse, Narrative, and Identity [Review of the book Narratives of Identity and Place]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books 55(29), No Pagination Specified. Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2010). Theological roots of psychological and natural philosophical discourse about free will. Presented at the Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Div. 24) Miami Florida, February 27 Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2009). Review of the book Psychology's Interpretive Turn: The Search for Truth and Agency in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. Humana.Mente, 11. 163-166 Download PDF
Meehan, W. & Stiver D. J. (2009). The origins of secular psychology: Hume and the naturalization of Moral Philosophy. Conference presentation (poster at the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario) Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2009). Partem Totius Naturae Esse: Spinoza’s Alternative to the Mutual Incomprehension of Physicalism and Mentalism in Psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 29(1), 47- 59 Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2009). Silly Robot, Ethics are for Humans. (Aren’t they?) [Review of the book Moral Machines: Teaching robots right from wrong]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books 54(25), No Pagination Specified. Download PDF
Meehan, W. (2008). Spinoza and Contradictions in Contemporary Psychology. Conference presentation at the First Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (APA Div. 24), Miami Florida, February 22, 2008.
Meehan, W. (2007). Of Media and Messages: Television Transcripts Do Not a Book Make [Review of the book Closer to Truth: Science Meaning and the Future]. PsycCRITIQUES— Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 52(30), Article 5
Meehan, W. (2006). Not an Idea of Mine: The Limits of Social Constructionism in Introducing Psychology [Review of the book Great Ideas in Psychology: A Cultural and Historical Introduction]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 51(13), Article 9
Meehan, W. (2006). Psychological Agency in Spinoza’s Ethics, Conference presentation to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, CA
Meehan, W. (2005). Engineering Affect: The Function of Emotion in Organisms and Artifacts [Review of the book Who Needs Emotions?: The Brain Meets the Robot]. PsycCRITIQUES— Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 50(25), Article 11
Meehan, W. (2005). Correcting Descartes’s Other Errors: The Role of Context in the Study of Mind, [Review of the book The Mind as a Scientific Object: Between Brain and Culture]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 50(17), No Pagination Specified
Meehan, W. (2005). Accidental Knowledge: The Role of Chance in the Development of Science, [Review of the book Creativity in Science: Chance, Logic, Genius, and Zeitgeist]. PsycCRITIQUES—Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 50, (9), Article 5
Meehan, W. (2005). Early history of objections to psychological agency. Conference presentation to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, CA
Meehan, W. & Bush, M. (2004). The effectiveness of psychoanalysis among analysts. Conference presentation to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, CA
Weisbin, J., Meehan, W., & Mascardo, T. (2004). Psychotherapy Effectiveness in a Clinic Following an Integrationist Theory. Conference presentation (poster) at the American Psychological Association Convention, Honolulu, HI
Meehan, W. (2001). Theory for Practice in the Twenty-First Century. Invited talk to the Training Institute for Mental Health, NYC, NY
Meehan, W. (1999). The Idea of the Reflexive Unconscious in Drive and Object Relations Theory. Doctoral dissertation, The Wright Institute, Berkeley, CA
Meehan, W. (1998). The History of Primary Process II: The Object Relations Tradition. Paper presented to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, CA
Meehan, W. (1997). The History of Primary Process I: Drive Theory. Conference presentation to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, CA
Meehan, W. (1997). Recent Empirical Literature on Nonconscious Cognition. Conference presentation to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, San Francisco, CA
Meehan, W., O’Connor, L.E., Berry, J.W., Weiss, J., Morrison, A. & Acampora, A. (1996). Guilt, Shame and Depression in Clients in Recovery from Addiction. The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 28(2), 125-134.
O’Connor, L.E., Berry, J.W., Weiss, J., Herbold, J., Meehan, W. & Webster, R. (1996). The Development of a New Measure of Interpersonal Guilt Conference presentation (poster) at the California Psychological Association Conference, San Diego CA
Meehan W. (1994). Family Conflict and the Construction of Legal Narrative in France at the End of the Old Regime. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Meehan, W. (1991). The Discrete Self of the Bourgeois Gentleman: The Concept of Self in the Essais of Michel de Montaigne. Conference presentation the Northern California Renaissance Conference, Santa Cruz, CA
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Historical Association
American Psychological Association
Division 1, General Psychology
Division 24, Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
Division 26, Society for the History of Psychology
Association for Psychological Science
Cheiron: International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences
Emotion, Personality, and Altruism Research Group (EPARG)
History of Science Society/Philosophy of Science Association
International Society for the History of the Neurosciences
International Society for Theoretical Psychology
National Coalition of Independent Scholars
San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group (SFPRG)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Clinical Psychotherapy Practice, San Francisco, CA (1996 – present)
San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group:
Board Member (2003-2005)
Workshop Faculty (2000-present)
SFPRG Clinic and Training Center, Clinical Faculty (2010–present)
The Wright Institute, Berkeley, CA: Adjunct Clinical Faculty (2001–2008)
University of California, Berkeley, CA: Visiting Scholar (2004–2008)
PsycCRITIQUES — Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, Editorial Board Member (2006–2007, 2010– present)