Providing a critical evaluation of the assets and limitations of contextualism for doing research in psychology and education, the authors compare contextualism, modified contextualism and mechanism as approaches to doing science, as well as their merits in studying closed versus open systems.

Contextualism
Its Definition, Origins, Current Manifestations and Allies
Philosophy of Science and Psychology
The Metaphilosophy of Stephen Pepper
Philosophic Contextualism and Modified Contextualism Described
Philosophic Contextualism and Academic Psychology
A Comparison and Evaluation
Developmental Contextualism and Academic Psychology
A Comparison and Evaluation
Functional Contextualism and Academic Psychology
A Comparison and Evaluation
Are Mainstream Psychology and the Various Contextualisms in Competition, and Should They Be?
Underdetermination, Incommensurability and Relativism
Downplaying Ontology