释义 |
quantophrenia|kwɒntəʊˈfriːnɪə| [f. quantitative a. + -o + -phrenia as in hebephrenia.] A term used for an obsession with and exaggerated reliance upon mathematical methods or results, esp. in research connected with the social sciences. So quantoˈphrenic a.
1956P. A. Sorokin Fads & Foibles in Mod. Sociol. (1958) vii. 103 When the true quantitative method is replaced by pseudomathematical imitations; when the method is misused and abused in various ways; when it is applied to phenomena which, so far, do not lend themselves to quantification..then the approach misfires. Under these conditions, use of mathematical method becomes a mere quantophrenic preoccupation having nothing in common with mathematics and giving no cognition of the psycho⁓social world... The tidal wave is at present so high that the contemporary stage of the psychosocial sciences can be properly called the age of quantophrenia and numerology. 1964Encounter Sept. 72 There is quantophrenia—an obsession with statistics as the sole ground of certitude in a changing world. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Feb. 162/5 Lundberg remains a sociologist honest and reflective enough to have tried to give ‘quantophrenia’ and testability..a firm intellectual base. |