BUHLER,CHARLOTTE - LIFE AND WORK OF A CONSCIENTIOUS 20TH-CENTURY SCIENTIST

Abstract

This article presents the life and work of the scholar Charlotte Buhler (1893-1974) in the field of developmental psychology, which are analysed in its interweavings with the scientific development of her discipline and the historical conditions of her biography. An outstanding pioneer in her field in terms of both subject matter and method, Buhler had an holistic approach to the study of people's lives. Her relationship to psychoanalysis as well as her position as a woman in science are important aspects for an appraisal of her life and work. By assessing the entirety of her scholary achievements, the article includes an analysis of the contradictory and ambivalent aspects of her work.