Ética en la obra de pioneros de la psicología: ¿Metafísica o política?

The context of this historiographic research is the development of psychology during its first 30 years. We focused on the work of six of psychology's pioneers, three from the USA (William James, Stanley Hall, and James Mark Baldwin) and three from Chile (Sergio Yulis, Salvador Cifuentes, and Hernán Larrain). An inductive analysis was performed using mostly primary sources, and in the Chilean case, secondary sources were also used. Ethical and political dimensions, manifested in their reflexions and perspectives, allowed us to conclude that the long written and philosophical tradition of USA researchers (inherited from protestant ethics) contrasts with the sparse productivity of its Chilean counterparts. present in their practice as a fundamental experience of their moral exposure (inherited from Christian oral tradition). Thus, characteristics of the development of the discipline and the work of each pioneer is eclipsed by the influence of the social and historical context.