Human action is famously anything but simple, a situation made abundantly clear by Raeff in this ambitious, scholarly, and introspective work... Worth remarking are two chapters in part 3 delivering, arguably, the core of Raeff's message: "Evidence and Research Implications" (chapter 11), and "Complex and Empathic Understanding" (the final chapter, 13). These chapters alone should entice the philosophically inclined to explore this interesting work, a must-read for
scholars of action theory and research.
Catherine Raeff is Professor of Psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her publications include the books Always Separate, Always Connected: Independence and Interdependence in Cultural Contexts of Development and Exploring the Dynamics of Human Development: An Integrative Approach.